Life's Too Short to Dance with Ugly Men! :)

Summer time fun

2011-07-19T23:50:00.010-05:00

This summer has been a busy one! A couple of weeks before school was out I finished my coursework for Lamar. Yay! Graduation is on August 13, but since it’s in Beaumont, I won’t be attending. So I guess it’s not technically official until then. To complete my administrator’s certificate for Texas, I need to attend a 5 day training called ILD – Instructional Leadership Development. My first week out of school I was signed up and ready to go. Unfortunately it was all the way at Region 10 in Richardson. I went on the first day and it was ok. The presenter told us that if you miss a day for any reason, you can’t come back, you have to go to another session later in the summer. For instance, if you miss day 3, you’d have to join in another group on day 3 later. So what happens to me on day 2? My car won’t start! Dead battery! After freaking out and calling my friend Sarah to come take me, I decided that once she took me, I wasn’t going to have a way home and my car still wasn’t going to be fixed for day 3. So I have to go later on this month. Yuck! I can’t take the administrator’s certification test until I finish this course so I’m nervous that I’m going to have forgotten everything I learned in grad school when I take the test. But I guess we’ll worry about that later. Luckily I got my car worked on that day because it took them about 7 hours to fit me in and work on it.

I’ve tried to get into couponing lately. Not quite extreme couponing, like the tv show, but just seeing what it’s all about. Well, let me tell you, it’s time consuming! And I just don’t buy groceries that often. But I did make a trip to Target and managed to save $14. I thought that was impressive! The bad thing about coupons for me is that they make me want to try new products and before I know it, I’m buying things I normally wouldn’t have…and that does not save you money.

my loot

I went to Ruston for about 5 days to visit my family. I enjoyed spending time with them and getting to have dinner with a few high school friends - Tina, Elizabeth, and Cynthia. One day my dad, my niece Reanne, and I went out to the Peach Store and bought some peach ice cream. Yummy! There weren’t any peaches ready that week.

quite the entertainter!

Reanne and GaGa making pizza

We were having fun with the camera timer

I wanted to stay for the Peach Festival, but I already had plans to float the river with some friends in New Braunfels. We had such a great time there! We took about 12 people and stayed in a really nice house outside of Gruene. I made some new friends, some that even live about 2 miles from me. It’s a small world! We ate at the Gristmill, one of our favorites. Larry Joe Taylor was playing at Gruene Hall that night but it was just too hot to stick around.

July 4th was fun. Koby had several of us over to his house for dinner. Greg made brisket, Gina made potatoes, Audra made banana pudding, and I made Wendi’s baked potato dip. It was a crowd favorite and it’s so easy too! We went out to the alley behind his house and watched the Castle Hills fireworks show on the wall. The next day I started housesitting, which is what the next post is all about.

hanging out on the wall

Gina, me, and Audra - about to sing some patriotic songs

My summer is flying by and I don’t like it. I’m having a blast but I want it to s.l.o.w…d.o.w.n!

What a week!

2011-07-19T22:55:00.009-05:00

I house/dog-sat for some friends a couple of weeks ago while they went on vacation. It ended up being quite a week! It started with me taking them to the airport at 5:30 in the morning. Whew, that’s early for me, especially in the summer. That night one of the Yorkies, Finley, threw up in my bed. Gross!!!

Finley

I woke up and cleaned it up, scared if I was using the right cleaning product on the really nice duvet. And yes, it left a ring around where I cleaned it, and would need to go to the dry cleaners.

the shy one - Burke

This is little Greta a few months ago. I don't have a current pic of her...

except for this one, when she was swimming. She looks like a drowned rat!

The next day I dropped my phone in the toilet! I was wearing a pair of shorts that have a little pocket. Nice! I tried putting it in a bag of rice like people said, but it just didn’t work. The phone’s manual said the battery was built in and couldn’t be taken out. Luckily my friend used to work for Nokia and had some extra phones in the house.

Thursday I was in the pool when I noticed that one of the wheels on the Polaris pool cleaner broke off. I worried that they would have to replace the whole thing and it would be really expensive. Come to find out, it was a $12 fix. Yay!

For the first couple of days, I guess the 3 dogs were trying to show me who was boss around there because they kept peeing and pooping in their beds. The little yorkie loved leaving me surprises around the kitchen and living room. I felt like I was constantly having to watch where I stepped. After a few days, they finally realized it wasn’t funny anymore. :)

Then Friday night I was heading back to the house after Burger Babes and a rock hit my windshield. As soon as it hit, it started cracking. By the next day, the crack was 2/3 of the way across the windshield. Luckily with insurance, it only cost $50 to replace it. I had a hole fixed on my windshield a few months ago at my school. At that time, I had 2 more holes but they were close to the edge and the guy said he could try repairing them, but the whole windshield would probably crack. He suggested I wait until a real crack happened. When the guy showed up at my house last week, it was the same guy. I told him I hoped we would stop seeing each other so often.

There's a glare on the windshield but you can sort of see the huge crack

I was really beginning to feel like everything was going wrong that possibly could. But after a few days of not so fun things happening, my housesitting time got better. Luckily there was a very nice pool to lay out in everyday…definitely a nice perk of staying there. Audra, Jill, and Audrey came over to swim on Saturday and Sunday. Unfortunately Kristi had to work both days. I finished 3 books while I soaked up the sun. Also during my week there, I went to Winstar with my friend Melinda and her parents. I won $20. Woo hoo! We had the best time. Melinda mostly played black jack but I preferred the machines.

Sweet little Audrey

I house/dog-sat for a total of 9 days. The best part was the payment I received at the end of the 9 days – a new iphone and otterbox cover!

That definitely made all of the ups and downs worth my time there! I came to the conclusion that I am not ready to 1) own a house and 2) own a dog. But I wouldn’t mind owning a pool! :)

Another prize they brought me from the Grand Cayman Islands - a rum cake

the Pioneer Woman book signing

2010-01-14T21:20:00.011-06:00

Pretty much everyday I read the Pioneer Woman's website (http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/). I've gotten so wrapped up in her recipes and stories, I feel like I have to check it daily. Not to mention that she has giveaways a lot so I try to keep up with those. As soon as I go a few days without checking it, sure enough she'll give away 5 Kitchen Aid mixers!

A couple of months ago she put out a cookbook. My parents were going to get it for me for Christmas, but when I found out she was coming to Dallas for a book signing, I decided I wanted the book early so I could try to get it signed.

I found a friend at school that likes her website too. Not as much as me, but enough to want to go with me. She wasn't able to go as early as I was so I headed to the Borders in Plano by myself to see what the process was like to get in line. I had seen on another friend's facebook status something about getting her ticket a few days early for a signing in Houston. I called that morning and found out you had to get a bracelet first. The first 100 bracelets were one color, then the next 100 bracelets were another color, and so on. By noon they had already given out 2 or 3 colors, so I felt like by the time I could get there after work, it would be too late. I almost didn't even go. The lady on the phone told me that I could only get one bracelet and my friend coming late would be on her own.

I got there, got my bracelet, and asked the lady how long of a wait she thought it would be. She said I could leave and come back around 8 (it started at 7) and it would probably be time for me to get in line. Well thank goodness I didn't leave! They called my color group around 6:00 or so. Come to find out, they were forming the (very long) line ahead of time. To have book signings as often as they do, those Borders people were very uninformed!

Once my friend Tina got there, she drove around for 30 minutes just looking for a parking space. Finally she got inside and got her bracelet. While waiting for her, a lady came by who had an extra bracelet in my group so Tina was able to get in line with me. She had not bought her cookbook ahead of time so when she went to buy one, it was the LAST one they had. It even had a little tear on the cover but she didn't care.

We waited in line until about 10:00 to meet the Pioneer Woman and get our book signed. I thought that sounded late until I saw on her facebook page that she was there until after 2:00 signing books. She had mentioned earlier that day that she would stay until every book was signed and I guess she did. Those were some true fans at 2:00. I felt sorry for her! Her 2 daughters were with her.

It was weird to see people in person that you read about everyday and feel like you know better than you actually do. It ended up being quite a fun adventure. I'm glad I went and stuck it out, even if I didn't get my homework turned in until the next day!

Not the best picture of me. I asked the guy to take 2 pics since I have a tendency to blink in pictures--sure enough, I'm about to blink and he only took 1 pic!

And SOMEday I'm determed to win one of her contests! I just hope it's the Kitchen Aid mixer day and not something random. And as long as I'm wishing, I might as well wish to become a good cook like her and find someone similar to her Marlboro Man. ;)

Happy New Year!

2010-01-03T18:11:00.008-06:00

Wow, it seems like just the other day we were all worrying about Y2K and now it's already 2010. I've enjoyed my time off for the holidays. I've gotten in the habit of staying up late and sleeping in. Tomorrow morning is going to be rough! I should probably take a tylenol PM tonight to help me get to sleep.

I enjoyed decorating my house for Christmas this year. I haven't decorated the last couple of years. By seeing what all I had, it helped me not to buy more decorations this year. I LOVE buying Christmas decorations! And wrapping paper is another one of my weaknesses, even though I don't wrap that often. I even found some really cute red and white polka dot paper that was on clearance at Target that I can save for next Christmas.

Here are a few pics of my house...

I didn't put up a big tree, just these 3 little trees instead:

Somehow we didn't take a single picture at my parents' house on Christmas. My mom videos us opening presents every year and I guess we just forgot to take pics. We had a fun time together. A few years ago we started the tradition of going around the circle taking turns opening one present at a time while everyone watches us. That's fun and it makes opening presents last longer. :)

Here a few pics of my nieces that we took while I was home for Thanksgiving...

oh tech, thy halls so beautiful...

2009-09-30T21:23:00.011-05:00

my little buddy Hannah's huh-lar-ree-ous expression

I sure am enjoying this fall weather. It makes me want to go to Canton this weekend. It would be the perfect weekend for it. I decorated my house for fall and Halloween this week. I needed to have someone come fix my garbage disposal so that gave me a good reason to clean. So then when my house was all clean, it made me want to get my decorations out from storage. Before we know it, Christmas will be here. Or maybe it seems like that because some stores are already decorating for Christmas. :)

trick or treat on my computer desk

the mantle above my fireplace

the dining table

I'm really enjoying watching the new fall shows on my new tv. My friend was upgrading so I bought his tv from him.

1 gently used tv + 1 free home delivery and set up = a 2 good to be true deal

I just finished watching the DAWGS beat Hawaii on it tonight. Now I'm listening to the band play the alma mater trying to remember all the words. :)

o tech, thy halls so beautiful,

thy pleasant walks, thy noble trees,

that charmed in my college days,

are ever dear to me.

louisiana tech, i love thee

my alma mater, my alma mater,

i will ever loyal be

to thee, my alma mater.

those old tech days, those joyful days,

so cherished in my memory,

though days of toil, in many ways

were happy days and free.

Who's going to homecoming?!?!?!? :)

museums, dolls, and a baby shower

2009-08-15T20:43:00.013-05:00

Unfortunately summer is just about over around here. It's time to get back on a schedule and start my new job at my new school. We had a leadership meeting this past week so I got to meet several of the team leaders and support staff. Change is good but it can also be hard. I saw some of my friends from my old school last week at training and it reminded me that I'll miss not seeing them everyday. But I'm sure I will make lots of great new friends this year.

Part of the Davison family came out for a quick trip to Dallas before school starts back. Sarah Margaret had been telling Margaret that she wanted me to take her to the airplane museum that we went to 2 summers ago. So I take her and Lannie to the Cavanaugh Flight Museum in Addison thinking that it's the same museum as last time. Uh, nope! We get there and it's lots of cool airplanes...OUTside. And boy was it hot

By the time we were done, it was too late to get to the correct museum (Frontiers of Flight) at Love Field before it closed. So the next morning we got there as the doors were opening and Sarah Margaret loved it. It was just as she remembered it. If only we had her brothers there to tell us about all of the planes, like last time. I highly recommend both museums for both kids and adults. :)

Then we met Margaret back at the Galleria to have lunch at the American Doll Store. That place cracked me up. I think some of the moms were more into it than the daughters. You could even pay $10 - $20 for a lady to style your doll's hair or get the doll's ears pierced!!! The Bistro was cute and fancy. It even had little chairs for the girls to sit their dolls in and attach to the table.

Sarah Margaret and Lannie shopping for doll accessories--those outfits cost as much as my outfits!

enjoying our lunch at the Cafe

Today I went to Emily's house for Jen's baby shower. Baby Colton will be here in less than 2 months! It was fun seeing everyone and catching up.

Emily, Jen, her mom and sisters

Jen and her mom Dorothy

Meg cutting the cute cake into perfect sized pieces :)

And no, they didn't make Jen bake her own cake. :)

having a great summer so far

2009-07-07T23:26:00.028-05:00

June was quite the busy month! I had been thinking for the last couple of months that I was ready to get out of the apartment life. I had to give my apt. complex a 60 day notice. Hello?!?! Who knows where they're moving to 60 days in advance! No one wanted to rent me a duplex and hold it for me for 2 months, which makes sense. Then I thought I had found the perfect duplex! It had been remodeled and looked great, had a super landlord lady, was in a good neighborhood, etc. But then there was a situation with the neighbors that were running a home healthcare business which was against codes and it was downhill from there. It didn't work out and the clock was ticking. I had less than 2 weeks until I left for Denver and had to be moved out before I left.

I went to Ruston to see my niece in the VBS musical and brought my dad back to Euless with me to help me pack. He's a super organized packer and was a HUGE help.

my brother Chad, his wife Brandi, and my nieces

While I was in Ruston, I found a duplex online, we went to see it, and now I'm all moved in! Of course there are still many boxes to unpack, but most of the major stuff is done. My mom came for about 24 hours to help hang stuff and decorate and then took my dad back home. I couldn't have done it without them! I came up with a ton of stuff for a garage sale in the fall. Thanks to Kristi's extra garage space, I can store it there until cooler weather. No way I'm having one in this 100 degree weather, although it would be nice to get it done while I have time off. But oh well.

A couple of weeks ago some friends and I helped Sarah celebrate her birthday/getting her masters. Yep, I still like setting my camera timer for group pics. :)

I just got back from Denver with my friend Brenda. I went to help her babysit her 2 grandkids while their parents went to Hawaii. We had a lot of fun. I got to have the whole basement to myself. There was a pool table, pacman, a kitchen, a huge tv, my own bedroom, and a workout room down there. We watched the sunset on the balcony a couple of different times. I think I could definitely move there for the summers, but the winters...not so much. I don't like cold weather enough. But it might be worth it for the great summers!

my buddies Joshua and Lindsey

a girl could get used to this! :)

George and Brenda

We went to this pizza place called Beau Jo's where there's a balloon guy on Monday nights. Well, the balloon guy wasn't there but his sub, the balloon girl, was incredible. Check out Ariel and Aurora and Spiderman. Come to find out, her dad is a professional clown so that's how she learned to make balloons. I was impressed! Also, has anyone ever heard of putting honey on your pizza? Well they do there, but I didn't try it. They bring a bottle of it to each table for you to add yourself.

Also in June, I got a new job. My friend Wendi became the principal at a school in my district and she had a few openings. I'm going to still be teaching reading small groups, but no longer doing the "Read Right" program like before. Now I'll have more flexibility with my lessons. I also get to get rid of teaching special ed. I didn't mind teaching the kids, it was the planning and paperwork that I didn't like! I'm sad to leave my school and the friends I've made there, but excited to see what the future holds. My friend Krista is going too and we'll be sharing a room. She's going to pull small groups for math. I know a couple of the teachers already and am excited to see how it goes. Coming in as a friend of the principal might not win me big points at the beginning, but hopefully I can win them over quickly. ;) ha ha!

Wendi's on the left and Krista's on the right

and one last pic for the road...Wade Bowen in Ft Worth about a month ago :)

Summer fun

2009-06-13T14:28:00.013-05:00

Summer is here!!! It started with the George Strait and Reba McEntire concert at the new Cowboys Stadium. That was quite an experience! We had a blast! Blake Shelton and Lee Ann Womack were good too. I had never seen any of them in concert before. Most of my Texas friends couldn't believe I'd never seen George before. And now I wonder why I hadn't either!

Greg, me, and Koby waiting to sing along and annoy the people behind us

Fancy is her name :)

"You look so good in love" is one of my favorite george songs!

Sunday afternoon Sarah went with me to Fort Worth to listen to one of my favorite singers, Brandon Rhyder. It was his birthday celebration. He always puts on a great show! I had a hard time getting any good pictures because there was a girl in front of me that kept moving around and they had a video camera set up to the right of her in the aisle. All my pics have her hair and the camera's black handle in them.

Some friends and I tried to celebrate Mike's birthday at a Rangers game Wednesday night. That would be the night that the HUGE storm blew in.

Mike kept saying it would blow right over...yeah, not so much. We got into the stadium just as it started raining. We waited, along with thousands of other fans, to see if the rain would stop so they could start the game, but no such luck. The game was called around 9:00. Here are Mike and Wendi's kids Connor and Riley entertaining themselves with cotton candy while we waited.

It was looking better by the time we left. Mike thought they should play anyway.

I've been sick the past couple of days. I'm waiting on Care Now to call and tell me they're ready for me to come in. I like their web check in! If all goes well, tomorrow I'll be heading to Ruston to see my niece Reanne in her VBS musical. She has a speaking part and has loved practicing all week. Then I'm going to bring my dad back with me to help me start packing up my apartment. The scary thing is that I don't know where I'm moving to! I had a great duplex picked out but then there were some problems with the neighbors that the landlady is working out. So I don't think it's the best situation to move into.

My apartment lease is up at the end of June. I leave for Denver on June 26th. So pretty much I have less than 2 weeks to get packed and out of here. I've been wanting to find a duplex with a yard that feels more like a house, rather than an apartment. I'm tired of apartment life! We'll see if I can find one this fast. If not, I guess I'll stick it out a little longer. Anybody know of a great place to rent in my area? :)

**Update: I'm home from Care Now. Good thing I checked in online or I would still be there waiting. After waiting an hour and 45 minutes for them to call and say they were ready for me to come up there, they put me in a room and I waited for the doctor for another hour. She basically agreed with what I thought was wrong--sinus junk and fluid behind my ears. So then I had to wait another 30 minutes for the nurse to come back and give me a shot and then finally I got dismissed. I was texting my friend Sarah while I was waiting and was telling her about the screaming kid in the room next door that sounded like he was getting a shot. It was if they were asking for his permission and waiting for him to stop crying, as if that was going to happen! So Sarah said she hoped I didn't have to get a shot. But sure enough I did. My nurse had absolutely no personality. I told her I would try not to cry like the kid next door and she looked at me funny. At least I made myself laugh, right Mom? :) I always do!

Well, come to find out, pharmacies don't like to stay open past 6:oo around here...except for Kroger's. So I killed 2 birds with 1 stone and grocery shopped while I waited. So since I'm going to survive :) (I wasn't so sure on Thursday) and I'm not contagious, I'll be heading to Ruston tomorrow. Yay!

This little piggy

2009-04-29T12:53:00.002-05:00

This is how it all started...

One more day of TAKS testing left. Woo hoo!

March

2009-03-28T17:23:00.011-05:00

It seems like a lot of us aren't posting on our blogs much lately. I guess we spend more time on facebook instead. :)

One day during Spring Break a couple of my friends and I went to the Dallas World Aquarium. We figured it would be busy with lots of kids because of everybody being out of school. But we had heard that it was half price day at the Ft. Worth Zoo so we were hoping they would all go there instead. Um, NO! Half the city was at the aquarium.

After spending 15 minutes looking for a parking spot, we stood in the line outside that was wrapped around the building for about 10 minutes. It wasn't moving very quickly and we knew once we got inside, it was going to be just as crowded. So we decided to find something else to do and save the aquarium for a hot day in July when we're looking for an indoor activity.

It was a beautiful day outside so we decided to head to Southfork Ranch in Allen. A couple of us had never been. We figured surely there wouldn't be a bunch of people there, right? Nope! They said they had had a steady stream of people all day but it was obviously nothing like the crowd at the aquarium. :)

Southfork is the ranch where the show "Dallas" took place. But come to find out, they didn't actually film there, except for a couple of times. I never got into the show myself, mostly because I was too young, and I wasn't allowed to watch soap opera type shows back then. Anyway, we had fun walking around and taking the tour.

Each bedroom was designed after a character on the show

Today a couple of my teacher friends from my first school and I went to a baby shower for our friend Kelli. Kelli taught 2nd grade with us before we all changed schools. She now lives in Oklahoma where her husband is an associate pastor. We miss having her around! It was good to see an old friend. She and I have a similar sense of humor so she almost always knew what sarcastic comment I was thinking, even if I didn't say it outloud.

Kelli and her cute little belly

the diaper cake for Kerrington Faith

Open House

2009-03-09T20:56:00.007-05:00

This Thursday night we have Open House at school. I thought it was as good of a time as any to put up a new bulletin board. With the reading program I do, I don't really have any student work to display, so I just think of a reading theme. My friend down the hall suggested "fishin' for books" and from there, this is what I came up with. I found this really cool background paper at the teacher supply store that looks like you're underwater. Last week when I put it up, kids (and teachers) were touching it. It was pretty funny. Once I added the tissue paper seaweed, I realized that it's going to tear pretty easily. There are 6 classes that pass by it every afternoon with their backpacks on, on their way outside to leave. So I'm not sure just how long it will all last. My favorite part is the bookworm on the hook. You can't really see it in these pics though.

a bubble font I found online

the books are the treasures :)

I went home last month and helped my parents give my nieces a little Valentines party. You think I could get any more pink or red in this kitchen? :) I had fun decorating it for them. I miss throwing parties at school now that I don't have my own class of kids.

yummy cupcakes my mom made using thepioneerwoman.com's recipe

my nieces...growing up so fast!

By the end of the night, it was cold out there, but I was making them pose with the Valentines window clings on the door.

birthday wishes

2009-03-05T09:37:00.004-06:00

Happy Birthday, Kristi!!!

Jill and I had fun eating Sprinkles cupcakes just for you. I hope you have a fantastic birthday!

FREE Chick-Fil-A stuff this week!!!

2009-02-09T17:32:00.010-06:00

I got an email today saying that (participating) DFW Chick-Fil-A's are giving out free food this week (Feb. 9-13) from 2:00-5:00 p.m. You know teachers like freebies! :) Here's the schedule:

Today was 8 nuggets

Tuesday - small waffle fries

Wednesday - ice cream cone

Thursday - small fruit cup

Friday - brownie (my personal favorite!)

My friend Koby got a new puppy. His name is Burke and he's a silky terrier. I went to see him this weekend. He was a sweet little ball of fur! Oh my gosh, I have to get one...someday! The lady he bought him from was at Canton this past month. It was her first time there. She usually goes to Bonnie and Clyde Trade Days in Arcadia. She said she prefers it there instead and probably won't go back to Canton. I thought that was interesting.

This weekend a few of us helped Gina celebrate her b-day at Patrizio's...

I recently got to hang out with my little buddy Hannah Marie. Isn't she adorable!!! We had lots of fun. She's going to be a big sister in about 10 weeks. She has no idea how much her little world is about to change when she's no longer the center of attention. :)

I love pajamas with footsies!

A couple of weeks ago I volunteered at a fundraiser for Clubhouse Concerts. It's one of my favorite places in Fort Worth to see live music. I got to hear several of my favorites and meet some new ones.

Max Stalling, Blacktop Gypsy, and Susan Gibson

Bobby Duncan, Walt Wilkins, Autumn, and some others

a cute new favorite Jeremy Martin

the guitars being auctioned off made them some BIG bucks!

3 Rivers Alice.....that guy's long hair kept bothering me. It looked like he needed to wash it and shave. :)

me selling CDs in an ugly tie-dyed volunteer shirt -- we looked like zebras!

my faves - Walt and Tina Wilkins

trip to Houston

2009-01-14T18:42:00.008-06:00

This past weekend Jill and I headed to Houston to visit Shandra and her family and see Jenn before she has her twins next month. Blake and Andrew were so excited about us coming that they couldn't fall asleep on Friday night. They stayed up way past their bedtime and got to see us. Really we planned that ahead of time but don't tell their mommy. ;)

Saturday we headed to Jenn's house for a girls day. We showered her with gifts and had a great time. We got to see her cute nursery for Jenna and Ellie. She had received tons of presents so we helped her open all the packaging and get organized. Shandra's a pro at getting baby rooms organized! I unwrapped diapers from her diaper cakes. Jill brought yummy Sprinkles cupcakes for us to snack on. After all that hard work, we figured we deserved a treat. Jenn, Shandra, and Jill got a pedicure and I got a manicure. Then we went to dinner and got to see Don before we left. We tried talking Jenn into starting a blog or getting on facebook but she just couldn't be convinced.

Saturday night Matt was just dying for us to get home so he could visit with us some more. :) We talked about all sorts of good Tech times. It's funny the way we each remember stories a little differently. I didn't get to hang out much with Matt in college so we made up for it this weekend. We also tried talking him into getting onto facebook but he doesn't have time for that because he's going to be looking for me a railroad man to date. Plus, if he wants to talk to you, he'll call you...his words, not mine. :)

Shandra and Matt's boys are the sweetest things ever! And so smart too! They liked me and Jill so of course they're smart. :) Thanks for hosting us, Shan! I had a blast and can't wait to do it again sometime. Now it's your turn to come to Dallas......

2008-12-16T12:09:00.003-06:00

I don't have much to blog about so I thought I'd try to make you laugh... :) Merry Christmas!!!

a celebrity sighting

2008-11-16T21:03:00.013-06:00

A few weeks ago I got an email from New York & Company about a special event at their store. Carson Kressley was going to be touring 5 cities nationwide and hosting a fashion show at their stores. Well, one of his stops happened to be at the mall I shop at about 10 minutes away. So I rsvp’ed for my friend Sarah and I to attend last week. We got there early, stood in line for a while, then took our seats. In each chair was a bag with a red purse in it, which just happens to be my favorite color.

Then Carson came out and hosted the fashion show. He showed how to mix and match a bunch of different pieces.

We were only about 5 rows back from the end of the runway.

He was actually pretty funny. I was afraid he was going to be annoying like on TV, but he wasn't.

the model that could use a little sun :)

the confident model that liked having her hair in her face

and the model that could pass for J Lo's twin

I loved this red jacket she was wearing! If only I had some fancy parties to attend, then I would know some perfect outfits for them! :)

After the style show part was over, he held a question-and-answer session with the audience.

After it was all over, he came out and autographed pictures.

It was a fun night. Unfortunately my camera died on Halloween so I had to rely on Sarah's picture-taking skills. The same thing happened the next night at the Stars game. Does anyone have any recommendations for a good camera...not too expensive, a good zoom, not too heavy so I can carry it in my purse, etc. I'm thinking maybe if I wait until the big sales after Thanksgiving, maybe I can find a good deal. But until then, I'm going crazy without one! :)

it's worth it

2008-11-09T13:11:00.007-06:00

This week I had one of those memorable moments in teaching. This year I'm responsible for a small group of special ed fifth graders. They're not severely handicapped or anything, they've been diagnosed with some sort of learning disability. I've really clicked well with one of them in particular. I'm in her reading and math class everyday and she's in my Read Right group. Unfortunately she's had some rough times at home in the past.

A couple of times when I've been working with her I've caught her looking at me and smiling. Once I jokingly asked her why she was looking at me and not the book we were reading and she said, "you're nice." Well this week she looked at me and said, "I wish you were my mom." I asked her why and she said, "because you're nice and I would like it at your house." I told her I didn't have any kids at my house and she said, "that's ok, I could be your first one." Talk about trying not to tear up! Believe me, if I could take her home and rescue her from her homelife, I would. Moments like that make teaching worth it. (Then there are moments like yesterday where you have to spend the whole freakin day at school for the carnival that make it not so worth it.) :)

Not much else to blog about. I got to spend some time with Jill today. We went to "Canton in the City" in Colleyville. I think we should stick to the Canton in Canton from now on. :) Then we enjoyed the weather while sitting outside at Starbucks.

Here are some pics from Halloween. My friends and I got together to hand out candy to trick or treaters. Being a witch was not at the top of my list of things to dress up as, but I didn't think Wilma Flintstone would fit in here... :)

2008-10-19T21:08:00.006-05:00

For 4 years I taught next door to my good friend Brenda. I soon became like a daughter to her and her husband George. I've babysat their grandchildren, taken trips with them, house-sat, etc. Yesterday was George's 60th birthday. Who knew turning 60 could be quite so much fun!

October fun

2008-10-13T13:03:00.012-05:00

October is always such a busy month. Here are some things I’ve been up to lately.

C O W B O Y S . . .

My friends Brenda and George invited Lisa, Karen, and me to the game. We don’t get together very often anymore, so it was fun to see each other. And the Cowboys beat the Bengals!

They had all of the previous Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders there for a reunion. Here they are performing at halftime.

some of the players praying on the star after the game

P U M P K I N S . . .

Koby had some friends over to carve pumpkins this past weekend. I can’t remember the last time I did that. I bought a kit at Kroger’s and used one of the patterns in there. I thought they turned out really cute!

mine is the 3rd one

R Y A N J A M E S . . .
Last night I talked Kristi into going with me to Fort Worth to see one of my favorite Texas country guys perform. There wasn’t a very big crowd, I guess since it was Sunday night. But I’m off for Columbus/Fair Day today so I figured I could handle staying up late. :) I’m sure Kristi wouldn’t admit to liking the music, but I think she had fun.

Here are Ryan James and his friend Wes Nickson singing

Kristi was dying to meet them afterwards (ha ha)

Ryan even gave us each a CD for free!

Thanks for going with me, KrisTee! You know you had fun!!! ;)

this might make you hungry

2008-09-20T12:43:00.011-05:00

I've been spending some time in the kitchen lately. Yesterday I made these Symphony brownies a teacher at work told me about. You layer half the brownie mix into the pan. Then put a layer of Symphony bars that have toffee chips and almonds. Yum!

Then pour in the rest of the brownie mix.

They were a big success at Bunco last night!

mmmm, the gooey middle

I also recently made this pesto pizza. I got the recipe from my favorite website The Pioneer Woman. Here's a link to all of her recipes. I love how she puts pictures and is very detailed so even I can do it. :) http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/category/all-pw-recipes/

I just used the 49 cent Wal-Mart brand of pizza crust that you add water to. Then you pour pesto sauce on the crust and can add a little salt if you want.

Then you layer Roma tomatoes and fresh mozzarella cheese on top.

You can sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top too...you might as well! There's no such thing as too much cheese, right?

And voila, you have a new twist on pizza!

Last week I attempted this sandwich. It's sort of like a Philly cheesesteak sandwich. It was ok, but the meat turned out a little tough. I didn't get a picture of mine so this is hers:

I wonder what I should try next.

a new school year

2008-08-26T17:19:00.010-05:00

Day 2 is done and I have blisters on my feet. :( I knew better than to wear new sandals on a day that would involve tons of walking around the school. And now I know the rest of the week, no matter which shoes I pick out to wear, they're all going to rub my blisters. ugh! Oh well, life goes on.

Here's the bulletin board I put up in the hall outside my room. The other 2 teachers that shared my room with me last year moved to other rooms so it's just me and a teacher's aide who's also going to do Read Right with me. It's been fun decorating and reorganizing. I even found popcorn border. :)

I've been working the lunch shift from 10:30-12:30. Those sweet little kindergarteners look like they'd be so much fun to teach but I don't think I have enough patience for them. :) But sometimes it's tempting. It would be neat to watch them experience all of their "firsts" of school. Just watching them go through the lunch line and carry their tray to the table was pretty funny. They'd be looking in one direction and their tray was going the other direction. Some of them look too little to be at school yet. I can only imagine their moms feel, Michelle. ;)

Last Friday night I went to the Cowboys game against the Texans. I told Karen's little boy that where we were going had a hole in the roof. He didn't believe me until we got there. See the hole? :)

He was quite the entertainment. It was his first Cowboys game and he had a blast! Here he is using the binoculars backwards trying to find his hand.

This is the mascot Rowdy.

Brenda came down to visit us during halftime.

Karen and I after the game. Can you tell we were hot?! There wasn't much of a breeze inside the stadium.

Ok, gotta go get ready for Day 3. Goodnight!

Pat Green concert

2008-08-06T00:35:00.008-05:00

Some friends and I went to New Braunfels to float the river recently. Mike's brother and sister-in-law live there and are the ones we stay with when we go. They are teachers but this summer they've been earning some extra money by working at this place that has concerts on the weekends. Well, this time when we were there, Pat Green was performing. Here's the first view we have of Pat singing... we're at the back of the crowd and having fun.

Then Jeff took us backstage and this is how we enjoyed the rest of the evening...up close and personal with the band. :) It was really neat. Pat's wife and kids and mom and brother were there too. We were just a few feet away from the band.

here's the hot fiddle player :)

Most of my pictures ended up being blurry because they were moving around so much.

Here's Pat singing to his daughter

his mom was beaming the whole time

his wife taking their kids to the tour bus for the night

me and Melissa

Cory Morrow and Django Walker stopped by to play a song with them

And here's a little video from the concert...

my 31st birthday . . .

2008-08-05T23:07:00.014-05:00

(Once again, it says I'm posting this on Tuesday, but that's just when I wrote it.)

A group of friends took me to the Cheesecake Factory in Southlake the night of my 31st birthday. Most of them I have taught with at some point in the past. Some are in my Bunco group too.

Kristi has met some of them so I was glad that she came too

Mike and Wendi

Koby and Gina

Me getting sung to

my peanut butter cheesecake

(my favorite part is the glob of creamy peanut butter stuff on top)

Makes my mouth water just thinking about it. :)

Tim and Krista

Chris and Sarah

Greg and I (also a La Tech graduate, but several years before me)

Melinda and Wendi

Audra and I

Then a few nights later Kristi and Jill took me out to Mi Chula's, a new Mexican restaurant in Southlake. We usually frequent La Hacienda Ranch but we decided to branch out. Jill brought yummy Sprinkles cupcakes for dessert. Thank you, girls! It was fun!!!

Then Kristi and I went to see Mamma Mia. I had already seen it but was willing to go again so maybe I could sing along this time. The theater got crowded and I, unfortunately, had to move over right next to a stranger. I hate sitting that close to someone I don't know in a movie, especially when I have intentions of singing along. :)

Then a few days later some friends from my 1st school in Irving took me out for my birthday dinner. We try to get together about once a month but it doesn't always end up happening. Kelli (in the blue) moved to Oklahoma last summer so we haven't seen her all year. Luckily she was in town for a wedding so she got to join us. Brenda (standing up) teaches Read Right like I do. Karen and Lisa teach in HEB now, but they also live in Euless and are members of my gym so we see each other pretty often. I'm sure our waiter loved how long we stayed at his table visiting after we finished our meal.

Thank you to all of you that sent me a b-day message on facebook, myspace, etc. I really appreciate you helping make the 1st anniversary of my 30th birthday special! (That's what Koby calls it.)

more of july...

2008-08-05T22:25:00.011-05:00

(This says I'm posting this on Tuesday but I actually just wrote it as a draft on Tuesday. I can't get the date to change when I post it.)

The day after I got home from the beach, my mom and nieces came to visit me for the week. The girls had never been to an amusement park so my mom wanted them to get to experience Six Flags. What a great Gran and Aunt they have because it was HOT out there!!!

Reanne and I at the 3D Space show ride

Ree and Jaisle at the Cirque Dreams Coobrila show

J and Gran on the hot air balloon ferris wheel ride

I introduced them to iFratelli's pizza

There was lots of time at the pool.

We spent an evening at Incredible Pizza (like Dave & Busters for kids).

We went to see the Space Chimps movie. When I was home for July 4th I went to see the Kung Fu Panda. I've now met my quota of kids movies for a while! I want real live humans in my movies for a while. :)

I took them to play at Pump It Up which has 2 rooms full of huge inflatable games. It makes me think of the Temple Tech Welcome Back party we used to have in the Family Life Center at the old Temple building. :) Good times!

Their last night here we went to Babe’s (Chicken House) for my b-day dinner. Chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes is my most favorite meal. The girls tried to find me a date but this guy was a little too shy for me! ;)

Reanne and I enjoying our meal

Jaisle and my mom after dinner

Then we tried to go up in the Reunion Tower to show them the view of Dallas but it was closed for renovations until next year.

My mom made a chocolate sheet cake with peanut butter icing for my 31st birthday. YUMMY!!!

It was a great week. On the way home my nieces were already talking about how we need to go a waterpark next time. My apartment sure was quiet after they left since I was used to having roommates at the beach for a week and then my family here for a week. But things haven't slowed down much since. The day they left was my birthday so I'll post pics from that next time.

july

2008-08-05T15:50:00.006-05:00

Wow, July really flew by! Lots of fun things happened around here. I'll start with my trip to Navarre Beach in Florida. It was a blast! Unfortunately my tan is already fading. :(

On our first day we found this blue raft that someone had left on the beach. So Mike and I headed out to float and there are Wendi and Jaleen on the right floating too. Looks fun, right?

Well it was until the bottom of the raft tore and we fell out. It was hilarious. No wonder someone left it on the beach!

The next day Jaleen and I ventured out in one of those orange kayaks. It reminded me of canoeing at Cho-Yeh. :) The jellyfish and algae showed up our third day there. Needless to say, I didn't get in the ocean after that! Here's a blob of jellyfish that some kids had collected from the water and dumped onto the beach. We watched several people come in from the water after getting stung. Luckily no one in our group did. But we decided we liked the sand and pool just fine.

We drove to Pensacola 2 different nights. Isn't the sky beautiful?!

Here are the tan girls after a couple of days in the sun. We're waiting for our table at Flounders.

Here's a cool sandcastle. I told them I was going to blog and say we made it. But we didn't really. :)

Our condo was on the 10th floor in the 2nd building from the left. What a pretty view! I could sit and listen to the waves forever!

Here are Wendi and I in our opposite outfits ready for a night out close to Destin.

On our way home Mike wanted to take a little detour and have beignets for breakfast at Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans. Notice the powdered sugar on my pants. :) I swear there must be a pound of sugar on your plate! We decided we wanted to get home in the afternoon instead of late at night so we left Florida around 2:00 a.m. and got to New Orleans around 5:30. There are some interesting folks out at that time of the morning. I think most of them were still up from the day before. Here are Melissa and I after breakfast, so anxious to get back in the car for the rest of the drive.

It was a great trip and was so relaxing! The day after I got back, my mom and 2 nieces came for a visit. I'll blog about that next. :)

off to the beach

2008-07-10T16:03:00.003-05:00

I made a spur of the moment trip to Ruston this past weekend. Since I've moved to Texas, I haven't been back for the July 4th program at Temple. I drove in right in time to go. It was very good. I always get emotional when men are in uniforms. ;) jk! I even bumped into Jeff Lewis and Sue Ellen. It's always fun to see people I haven't seen in a while. I can't get over all the changes around town and campus. I think in a previous post I mentioned how Ruston was getting another I-20 exit but I was wrong. It's not an exit, just a bridge by Wal-Mart. I got to enjoy some of my Ruston favorites while I was there--a peach icee, a Johnny's pizza, and some Hot Rod's BBQ (although it's still Cowboys to me). And of course time with my family is always great. My nieces are growing up so fast!

Some friends and I are heading to Navarre Beach in Florida on Saturday to spend a week. I haven't been to the beach in a long time! It reminds me of some Gulf Shore trips back in college. Those were good times! Ashley, I wish you were here to help me pack and make sure I don't forget anything. You were a pro at getting ready for the beach and getting us there! :)

who's got a boat???

2008-06-25T14:36:00.005-05:00

This past weekend some friends and I went to a restaurant on Lake Grapevine called Little Pete's. Ohhhh, it made me want to go out on a boat so badly! Anybody have one and need an extra passenger every weekend? :)

the birthday boy Tim and his wife Krista

Mike and Wendi

the girls

Woo hoo, only 2 more days of teaching summer school. Next Tuesday is the TAKS Math test. I hope my kiddos do ok! I know they're going to miss me terribly after that. I'll think of them when I'm sleeping past 6:30! And I'm sure they'll do the same. :)

lazy summer days

2008-06-20T09:15:00.018-05:00

Ahhh, I love Fridays! I've been teaching summer school Monday through Thursdays and it's really not too bad. I have a couple of kids that have a bad attitude about being there (who can blame them!), but other than that, it's been ok. One day last week we were working on decimals so I had found 2 really good websites that had a ton of fun decimal games. Right after I started them on the computers, a district coordinator walked in. I could tell she wasn't happy to see them on the computers. But I figured we have 3 1/2 hours to work on one concept then by golly I can use some of that time on the computer. It wasn't like they were goofing off or I was sitting at my desk. But no, that afternoon she told my summer school supervisor that computers weren't allowed. Hello?!?! All year my district brags and brags about how computer savvy we are and ahead of other districts, blah blah blah, but apparently when it comes to getting ready for the TAKS test, computers don't help. I was just a little frustrated, can you tell? Anyway...sorry to go off about that. :)

But what I really enjoy is having Fridays off! :) Unfortunately it's been cloudy or rainy the last couple of days so I haven't been able to go to the pool. But the "cooler" weather is nice. It's been nice having some down time lately. But unfortunately I start shopping when I have free time and that's not good. Last weekend I bought some closet organizer stuff. Now if only I would use them! :) This week I went to the Sam Moon area and bought a purse and jewelry I didn't really need. Who knows what I'll buy today. I've also been enjoying going to hear some live music lately. My friend Sarah went with me to hear Deryl Dodd. He's a great entertainer and such a cutie.

He didn't know I was going to be there so he was excited to see me in the crowd. We're tight like that. jk!

Last weekend I went to see one my favorites, Walt Wilkins.

His wife Tina was with him too.

Some of the gang at my friend Mike's b-day dinner at Red Hot & Blue--

he's the tall one in the middle

thank you, kristi

2008-06-02T17:30:00.009-05:00

Saturday night Kristi and I ventured out to Dallas to listen to some live music with our sunburned selves. (We had enjoyed a little too much pool time that afternoon.) I know we'll regret it when we're old and have wrinkly leather skin, but until then...oh well. So we went to a late dinner and then to listen to one of the Texas country singers I like, Josh Grider. Kristi probably won't admit how much she loved the music (yeah right!) but she was a nice friend to go with me. I guess now I owe you one, Kristi.

Here are some of the lyrics to one of his songs "Crazy Like You" that I like...

Well people sing songs all the time

Bout fallin in love and losing their minds

But it ain't love that drives folks mad

It's livin this life day in, day out

Tryin to figure out what it's all about

The who's, the when's, the where's, the why's, and the maybe's

I looked high, I looked low, looked far, looked wide

Before I looked in a mirror and I realized

I spend my time lookin for the wrong thing

A perfect insane would be so mundane

A man like me, I'm subject to change

And I'm lookin for someone whose tracks'll fit my train

I found me a girl and she's five foot four

And I never found a girl that I dote more

We are in tune and out of touch with all the same things

And she's as wild and mean as a deep blue sea

And pure and sweet as honey from a bee

And I love her to death, cuz that girl's crazy just like me

The chorus:

I say everybody's crazy so what you need to do

You need to find somebody crazy like you

Someone you can fuss and fight with

And when you make up then you can kiss all night with

Someone who shares your particular point of view

Oh they're bound to be crazy, just make sure they're crazy like you

So I guess I've been going at it all wrong. What I should've been doing was looking for someone crazy like me. :) Now I get it!

here's Josh singing at a music festival I went to in April

Memorial Day weekend

2008-05-29T10:18:00.013-05:00

I had a good time at home last weekend. Friday night my brother and 2 nieces came over and we grilled. I didn’t get to make those stuffed peppers for Bunco a couple of weeks ago so we tried them out Friday night instead. They were yummy!

It’s funny how some peppers were hotter than others. The hot ones would always catch you off guard, for some reason. My dad made the Pioneer Woman’s chocolate sheet cake.

It was very similar to my mom’s recipe. We have some picky eaters that don’t like walnuts, so some of the icing has nuts and some doesn’t. When I was growing up I had to learn to like them or I wouldn’t get dessert. But now for the grandchildren, we do whatever they want!

Jaisle and Ree playing with makeup

I told them when I was their age and my brother would see me playing in makeup, he would say, “I didn’t know we were playing clowns!” It used to make me so mad. I thought I was doing such a good job and then he would make fun of me.

J doing what she does best!

Chad and his girls

Saturday night I met Tina and Cynthia, a couple of friends from high school, at Ponchatoula's for supper. We ran into Andrew and Ashley James there. I hadn't seen them in years! It's funny how when I'm in Ruston, I feel like I'm supposed to know almost everyone I see, but it's getting less and less like that. But sometimes I like knowing that I can run to Wal-Mart here and most likely not bump into anyone I know. Depends on how bad I look and if I'm in a hurry. For those of you that haven't been back to Ruston in a while, you would be amazed at all the changes, especially on Tech's campus. Be careful on the new one way street in front of Wal-Mart. :) And there's a new exit off I-20. They are moving on up...now there are FOUR exits.

On another note, please pray for my Bunco friend Melinda. She was put into ICU last weekend with viral spinal meningitis. She is out of ICU and hopes to go home today. Doctor's orders are to rest and she is going to have a hard time doing that. Thanks for your prayers for her!

one last pic of Aunt Mandy and her girls

graduation and puppies

2008-05-19T17:52:00.008-05:00

It's 95 degrees outside right now at 6:00 in the evening!!! I hope that doesn't mean we're going to have a miserably hot summer! Ugh!

Last week I went to see my friend Karen get her masters degree at DBU. We taught across the hall from each other in 2nd grade for 6 years. Her family was not fond of the "behave yourselves" rules about no cheering for the graduates until the end. It was quite funny. All you could do was quietly stand and show your support as they walked across the stage. Her dad was frustrated at this rule. I sat next to her son who is in the 4th grade. He had quite a short attention span so we entertained each other. After it was all over, I thought I was going to have to call for help to find my car. A good sense of direction is something I was definitely not born with! But luckily I remembered my way back. :)

Congrats, Karen!!! You're going to make a great principal!

This past weekend I went with a friend to pick up his new puppy. Isn't she adorable?!?! It makes me want one sooooo badly. But I don't think I'm quite ready for the responsibility and expense of having a dog. I'd have to leave it in its crate a lot and I would feel bad about that. And I'd also hate having to take it out if I got home late at night. Plus it wouldn't have a yard to play in. See? I'm just not ready. But the summertime sure would be a good time to get a puppy because I'd have time to train it. No, I better not! :)

She likes to sleep as much as I do!

I think I'm going to go home for Memorial Day weekend. We're off on Friday because it's a bad weather day we never had to use. So I think I'll take advantage of my 4 day weekend to go see my nieces. I bought Reanne some books at the Book Fair last week. I guess now I need to find something for Jaisle.

Mother's Day and The Pioneer Woman

2008-05-14T10:28:00.013-05:00

My mom came to visit me for Mother's Day last weekend. A little backwards, I know. But she hadn't been to Dallas in a while so we decided it would be a good weekend for her to come here. She's a good sport like that. :) If you've never been to the Dallas Farmers Market, I would highly recommend it! We went there on Saturday morning and bought some vegetables. The flowers were gorgeous too but with living in an apartment, I have no place for them. My one pot of petunias is all I have room for.

We also went to see Made of Honor. It was such a cute movie! Michelle Monaghan's red highlights made me want some. We did some shopping after church on Sunday. I can always trust my mom's judgment when I try on clothes! Then I took her down to the Ft. Worth Stockyards for dinner. We had fun. Thanks for coming to visit, Mom!

The Pioneer Woman

A few months ago I came across http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/. It is my new favorite website. It's this lady that lives on a ranch in Oklahoma and she blogs alomost everyday. My favorite part is her recipes she puts on there. She puts a picture of EVERY step to the recipe as she's making it. It's quite helpful for people like me!

Every now and then she has giveaways of really cool stuff. Today it's a kitchen aid mixer. http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/ All you have to do is leave a comment answering the question she asks. Then she uses a generator that picks a comment randomly and that's the winner. She loves photography, obviously from her great photos, so she's given away a camera and a printer before too. So I was looking at her blog this morning and she already has over 5,000 comments after posting just this morning!

She writes all about her life on a ranch, how she met her husband after moving back from California, cooking, etc. She hass a great sense of humor! She's even thinking about hosting a ranch version of the Bachelor to help find a girlfriend for her husband's cousin. (http://thepioneerwoman.com/2008/05/heels_to_wheels_part_deux.html)

I'm going to make her stuffed jalapeno recipe (http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/07/bacon-wrapped_j/) for Bunco Friday night. I've made them on a campfire and a grill before but never in the oven. Yummy! Just reading her cooking site makes me hungry! Next I want to try her chocolate sheet cake but I'm afraid I'll eat too much of it.

Anyway...just thought I'd share this website with you in case you needed some good recipes with easy to follow directions and pictures. :) Enjoy!

my sweet teeth

2008-04-08T13:29:00.006-05:00

Yesterday after work I headed to Kroger's to buy stuff to make dinner last night. The frozen dinner I had eaten for lunch was long gone and I was hungry. I know better than to go grocery shopping when I'm hungry, but I didn't really have a choice. So what did I buy while shopping...Hostess Donettes!!! Thanks to Angie's recent post, I've been craving them for several days now. Thanks, Angie! :)

Almost everything else in my cart was pretty healthy except for these yummy donuts. As soon as I got home I ate a few while I cooked dinner. Then once we sat down to eat, I wasn't as hungry. Oops! :) On my way to work this morning, I remembered the donuts and was sad that I had forgotten to get some for breakfast. I guess I know what my snack will be this afternoon. :)

When I googled for a picture of hostess donettes, this cake came up. Now that's my kind of dessert right there! :)

Spring has sprung

2008-03-30T19:49:00.001-05:00

I sure did enjoy my Spring Break! Sad thing is that it just makes me more ready for summer break. Pitiful, I know! :) Zane was in town for several days. We went to dinner and a concert in the Fort Worth Stockyards one night. Sunday afternoon we (ok, mostly he) planted a pot of red and white petunias at my front door. If only I could keep my upstairs neighbors from dropping their cigarette butts down onto my new Spring mat and into my flower pot! Does anyone have some extra money they'd like to invest? I have a suggestion. :) Buy a house in Euless and let me rent it from you. Pleeeease! :) I'm sooooo tired of my noisy neighbors and they don't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. :(

Last night my friend Karen and her family were going to the High School Musical on Ice show. Honestly, I've never even seen that movie all the way through. I've only seen some of Part 2 with my nieces. Karen's mom was sick and couldn't go, so she asked me to use their extra ticket. I was really wishing my nieces could be there. They would have loved it! I kind of compare it to us watching Grease and Grease 2 when we were young. But High School Musical is squeaky clean, but just as cheesy. :)

My 2 week observation window opens tomorrow where my principal will come to watch me teach. I don't know why but I always get nervous for that! She's going to watch me do Read Right and a special ed inclusion group. I can't wait to get it over with. Instead of working on my plans right now, I'm blogging instead. :) I guess I better get busy. Have a great week!

Brandon Rhyder

2008-03-16T23:29:00.005-05:00

I'm all into Texas music lately, thanks to Zane, so tonight I went to Ft. Worth to hear Brandon Rhyder. I've learned a lot of his songs over the last few months and thought, what the heck, it's Spring Break, so I can stay out late on a Sunday night for once. :) Since Zane's in Austin right now, I asked my friend Sarah to go with me. She had never heard any of Brandon's songs but she became a fan quickly. It was just him playing his guitar without a band so you can really focus more on the words and get a sense of his personality. I made a little video clip of one of my favorite songs "Freeze Frame Time." How cool to write a song and have 150 people sit there and sing it with you. That's got to be a neat feeling. If only I could sing and write songs! :) I like the sign behind him. It says Sit Down, Shut Up, and Listen.

Don't forget to wear green for St. Patrick's Day tomorrow!

Wanted...

2008-03-13T20:24:00.005-05:00

Tonight was Open House at my school. It was nice not having to get a classroom ready for parents. :) The program I teach is called Read Right. Every time they read outloud to me, they have to decide if it was "excellent" or not. And on Fridays we read a story then discuss and prove our answers and it's called "critical thinking." So I made this bulletin board about rounding up excellent readers and critical thinkers. I googled "wanted posters" and found a website that you could make them on. The posters say "Wanted for excellent reading" and the reward price. Pretty cute, huh? :) I found the plastic hats at Gardenridge last night. And you can't really tell, but the bandana is a real one stapled up there. My friend Sarah found the bandana border for me. Anyway...that's what I did this afternoon. Only 1 more day of school till Spring Break. WOO HOO!!!!!!!!

lots and lots of birthdays

2008-03-09T20:03:00.009-05:00

Even though I haven't seen her yet, Kristi celebrated a birthday this past week. We were going to go to dinner Thursday night, but with the snow we decided to wait till this week.

My little buddy DeWayne turned 3 last week. He had a party at Pump It Up. A couple of weeks ago we worked on holding up 3 fingers. It took him a while, but finally he can do it.

And my friend Audra has a birthday tomorrow. We went to PF Chang's. They gave her a little tiramisu. It was so cute. She brought us Sprinkles cupcakes. It was my first time to try them...yum!

Friday night Sarah and I went to see Wade Bowen in Fort Worth. We had a lot of fun!

Only 1 more week till Spring Break...woo hoo!!! :)

2008-02-05T19:12:00.000-06:00

This past weekend several of us got to “shower” Meg with baby gifts. There was lots of going on! :) Look at these adorable shoes Ashley P. gave her…

I didn’t end up with many pictures but Jessica and Jill had their cameras too. I’m sure their blogs will have some pics ssoon too. :)

My friend Gina turned 40 this weekend. We had a birthday dinner for her at Palomino’s in the Cresent Hotel in Dallas. I had never been but it was very nice. Her cake looked like it was straight from Ace of Cakes on the Food Network. There were even cookies shaped like the #40 at each place setting. Happy Birthday, Gina!!!

lights, CAMERA, action!!!

2008-01-27T21:15:00.000-06:00

For about 5 months my camera has been broken. If you know me very well, you know that I've been lost without it. But finally...I have a new one!!! I found one on sale the other day that had all the features I was looking for. I've played with it a little but haven't had time to do much more yet. The other night I went to dinner with Karen, a 2nd grade team member of mine from my 1st school, and her son. Isn't he adorable?!?! He says some of the funniest things! He was quite entertaining at dinner. He's got me, along with everybody else in his life, wrapped around his little finger. But who could resist a smile like that? I sure can't!

addicted...

2008-01-12T16:17:00.000-06:00

So, I'll admit...I'm addicted to my DVR. It can happen so fast! There really aren't that many shows I keep up with anymore but the few that I like, I record. Well, last weekend I was trying to catch up on some shows I'd recorded back before Christmas when things were so busy. I had saved several weeks worth of shows and wanted to watch some. I could see the list of shows but when I would push play, a black screen would pop up and nothing would happen. At first I thought I had messed something up so I pushed every button possible trying to get it to work. My DVR kept recording stuff but wouldn't let me watch it. Finally on Tuesday night I had had enough so I called Time Warner. She said they would have to send a technician out. Luckily they're open on Saturdays so he could come between 2:00-5:00. He just came and guess what...he TOOK my DVR, said it was frozen, that happens sometimes, and gave me a new one. Do you know what that means?!?!? He took all of my recorded shows with him!!! And now it just dawned on me that I have to start from scratch with all my settings. I think I'm gonna cry...

The other day Kristi suggested that I call Time Warner and see if they would credit my account. So I just called and she said she could credit me for the day I called (Wed.) until today. The DVR only costs $5 a month so the grand total is 66 cents! To me, it's more like the mastercard commercial:

my old DVR with all the shows on it....priceless!!!

Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

2007-12-17T17:09:00.002-06:00

but the fire is so delightful!
I can count on 1 hand my Christmas decorations this year. That's not usually like me! I've had to make myself not walk down the Christmas aisles at stores because I have an addiction with buying more stuff every year. I got out all the boxes from my storage room after Thanksgiving, but then decided that I didn't want to have to put it all away in a few weeks. Pretty pitiful, huh? But this little Santa made the cut. And I hung a lighted wreath on my door...that way all the neighbors can just assume that the inside of my apartment is decorated as well. I'm using a poinsettia that was given to me as my "tree."

A couple of weeks ago Zane and I went to the Gaylord Texan Hotel in Grapevine to the ICE sculpture exhibit. It's 2 million pounds of ice hand-carved into 3 slides, the nativity, toys, gingerbread people, etc. They keep it at a chilly 9 degrees so they give you a lovely parka to wear. Cute, huh?

I used to teach a penguin story to my 2nd graders so now I love penguins!

the nativity...
and the disposable camera wasn't so great, but this is me coming down the slide...

Merry Christmas!!!

Kumbaya

2007-11-21T10:15:00.001-06:00

Well, I survived camping and it was lots of fun. There were 10 adults, 3 kids, 3 dogs, way too much food, and tons of laughs! We didn't completely "rough it" because we slept on air mattresses, but I was ok with that! The bad part of camping is that it takes a lot of effort getting everything ready to go and then a lot of time setting up just to "rough it." That part was funny to me. One friend Krista said her husband Tim spent so much money on camping supplies that they could've gone to a 5-star hotel for that price. But we reminded her it wouldn't have been as much fun. Here are some pics from the weekend...Once again, I'm at the mercy of other people and their cameras so I think there are some other good pics out there, but they haven't been sent to me yet. :)the girls

me, Wendi, and Sarah

my buddy Jeff and I waiting on breakfast

the chefs--Tim, Zane, and Melissa cooking breakfast

Jaleen, Emma, Wendi, and Connor watching breakfast cook

where Krista spent most of her time...in her chair watching the fire

me and Sarah with no make-up!

Then Zane and I figured as long as we were outside, we might as well go hunting for some dinosaurs...
the t-rex and the brontosaurus

Alright already :)

2007-11-14T12:21:00.000-06:00

Apparently Shandra and Carrie are bored with my old post so I guess it's time to update. :) If only I had something to blog about...

Only 2 more days of school till Thanksgiving break! Woo hoo!!! Friday night I'm hosting my Bunco group at my apartment. I think all I have left to do is vacuum the living room. It should be fun times. It might be a little different than Todd thinks, but we still know how to have a good time. :)

On Saturday a group of 12 friends and I are going camping. I've never been camping in a tent so it should be quite interesting. I'm not sure if I can handle "roughing it" or not. I do get to take an air mattress though, so that's good. If nothing else, I'll get to make a s'more while sitting by the campfire.

Unfortunately my camera is broken so I have no pictures lately, and you know how much I love taking pictures! It's killing me! Sometimes I can talk friends into taking their camera but then I have to bug them about sending me the pics and all that. I do have a few pics from a trip I took last weekend. I went with my friends Mike, Wendi, and Tim down to New Braunfels where we float the river in the summer. We stayed with Mike's brother Jeff and his wife Sarah and went to a festival Saturday night. It was lots of fun. I wasn't able to go last year because that's when I was having to work in my classroom every weekend. But this year I don't usually have much weekend homework so I was able to go. Anyway, we went shopping at the big outlet mall down there too. It's hard for me to look at sweaters and such when it's 85 degrees outside!

Here's the group from Dallas that drove down there...Wendi, Mike, me, and Tim
Mike, Wendi, Jeff, and Sarah

Jeff is a junior high football coach. There is a lady at his school that has cancer and lost her hair. So Jeff and some others shaved their heads to support her. I thought that was very sweet of them! He loved it! Don't they look just a little bit alike? :)

So that's about all that I've been up to lately. I'll try to get someone to bring their camera on our camping trip this weekend and post some pics of that. I'm excited to finally get to see my family next week for Thanksgiving. Has anyone started their Christmas shopping yet? I haven't even thought about it yet!

Blue Man Group

2007-10-08T17:18:00.001-05:00

This goes with the post below...soemtimes technology is smarter than me! :)

What a busy week!!!

2007-10-08T16:45:00.001-05:00

I love living in a place where so many fun things are constantly going on! Unfortunately I don't have real pictures for most of these things because #1 my camera is dead and #2 these places wouldn't let me use it anyway.

Last weekend my friend Koby invited me to the Meyerson to hear the Dallas Symphony. There were honoring the group ABBA. We didn't really know what to expect. After the intermission, a group from Sweden came out dressed up like ABBA and put on a concert with the symphony backing them up. It was great. We even got to stand up and sing along. All of you that liked Mamma Mia would have been singing with me. :) being silly on the way home
Audra

Last Wednesday night I went to see The Lion King at Fair Park. Oh my gosh, it was sooooo good! If you get the chance to go, you should!!! I've always liked that movie and the music in it. But you would not believe the costumes! It was amazing! We had great seats on the floor in the middle section, 13 rows back. I've never sat down there!

Then last night I went to see The Blue Man Group at the American Airlines Center. I didn't really know what to expect, but it was a good show. I've never been to Vegas, but if I went, this is one of the shows I would want to see there. So I was glad to hear they were coming to Dallas. Here's a video someone put on youtube from the show the night before.

done!

2007-09-23T21:11:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm finally done with the past 3 weeks of training for my new reading tutoring program. Whew! Tomorrow I finish up working on schedules and start doing some special ed inclusion. From what I've heard, that should be interesting...more so because of the teachers I'll be working with rather than the kids.

I had to move classrooms...AGAIN!!! We've had about 100 more kids enroll than expected so they've had to hire more teachers. So first I moved out of my own classroom into my new friend Leigh Ann's room with her. But then a week ago, we got booted out and had to move in with another special ed teacher. So there are 3 of us crammed into 1 room that's smaller than all my rooms from the past 7 years. Nice! It's taught me that I have way too much stuff! And most of it is already in my spare bedroom! But like I've said before, teachers hate to give stuff away, and for all I know I could be back in the classroom next year and need it all again. But let's hope not! :)

I still miss my old friends from my last 2 schools. It's hard getting to know a whole new staff. And not really being on an official grade level makes it a little harder. But I've really enjoyed being able to help out as a support teacher. Our faculty meeting lasted over 2 hours last week, but it didn't really bother me that much because half the stuff that was covered didn't have anything to do with me. I still feel a little guilty because of that, but I'm trying to get over it. :) Tuesday night I'm having dinner with 3 of my closest teammates from my 1st school. We try to get together about once a month.

Not a whole lot else has been going on lately. I got to hang out with my good buddies Jill and Demian this weekend. That was so much fun it made me dizzy! :) And a "first" happened for me today...I successfully operated a lawnmower at a friend's house. I feel bad to say that I've never done that before, but I haven't. I used to help rake sometimes when I was growing up, but I had never mowed. It made me glad I live in an apartment with no yard!

Last week I went several days without checking everyone's blogs because of some computer issues here at home and I had missed out on pregnancy announcements and births! So now I'm trying to stay in the loop more. But if you've missed checking my blog in a while, you haven't missed a thing. Have a great week!!!

1st week of school

2007-09-03T21:57:00.000-05:00

Whew! I am glad the first week of school is over! Since my training for my reading program doesn't start until this week, I wasn't able to start my reading groups yet. So last week I got to do all sorts of odd jobs for my administrators. Then our 2 monolingual kindergarten classes each had 30 kids so they had to make a new kindergarten class. Guess who almost had to sub for a few days?! ME! But luckily they found a long-term sub that can teach until they can hire a teacher. But guess whose classroom they needed to make into a kindergarten room?! MINE! So all in one day, I had to pack everything up and move it to another room. Then with a little help, we had to get my old room ready to look like a kindergarten classroom. It was crazy! And it would have been easier if I could have worn shorts and flip flops! :) So here are some things I learned during my first week of school...

1. All of you moms out there need to teach your kids how to open their milk cartons and ketchup packets before they start kindergarten! Helping out during lunch was quite an experience. One little boy had one of those lunchables with a pizza in it. He almost cried because I wouldn't go heat up his pizza. I guess he's used to eating it hot. I told him it should be ok because it had been sitting in his lunchbox all morning. He said no, the ice pack was keeping it cold! I suggested he bring a sandwich the next day. :) Just kidding! I would have gone to heat it up in the microwave in my room but that would have left 1 other teacher managing the whole cafeteria. And I also didn't want him to think we would heat things up everyday!

2. After wearing flip flops all summer, your feet sometimes rebel to real sandals by giving you horrible blisters!

3. Sharing a classroom with another teacher is fun, but not quite the same as having your own space to yourself.

4. Working with new people and making new friends is good, but it makes you miss the old friends from previous schools too. I'm glad to have my friends Koby and Jaleen there. It's nice to have familiar faces around.

5. Directing traffic is not as easy as it looks. Parents that have been sitting in the parking lot waiting for their little baby to get out of school sometimes honk their horns at teachers who are trying to help children not get run over in the crosswalk! :)

6. Parents that wait to register their kids on the 1st day of school are impatient! How dare it not be a 5 minute process because they might be late to work! Well, all you had to do was come up to school the week before...I'm just saying...

7. Having to go to bed at a decent hour and getting up early is HARD after a summer of staying up late.

8. Even though I've been super busy all day long, I can get in my car with just my purse and lunch bag...and no teacher bag full of lessons to plan or papers to grade. I'm handling less stress quite well! :)

9. Dinner with Kristi is a great way to unwind during the week. A bowl of chips and salsa can cure anything! We sat 3 tables over from my principal and the lady I share a classroom with. What a small world!

10. The best way to end the 1st week of school is Bunco on Friday night, shopping with your mom on Saturday, and a country music festival on Sunday afternoon.

For the next 3 weeks I will be in training from 7:30-3:30 for the reading program I'm going to be doing. Luckily the training is at my school so that's nice. I've heard it's really intense though. My friend DeAnne is the trainer for this week. Tomorrow she's going to start by recording us while we read, then grading us. I'll let you know if I have to be in the "Buzzards" reading group. Just kidding! We don't call them that anymore, Todd S. :)

All moved in

2007-08-16T11:30:00.000-05:00

I got all moved in to my new classroom last week. Whew! What a bunch of junk I've collected in the past 7 years! I won't need a lot of it this year so I brought some of it home to store for a while. My spare bedroom is a mess! Unfortunately the teacher that was in my room last year had not moved out yet. I had to put all my boxes in the corner. I'm going back today to see if she's been up there. It's a been a week so let's hope she's cleaned up the place! But then I got to thinking that it might just be junk that she didn't want, and left for me to clean up. This is my 4th classroom to move into, so I've learned that some teachers are like that.

Last Thursday night I went to a Cowboys preseason game. They were playing the Colts which means Peyton Manning was there. :) We were in a suite at the top so the pictures are kinda fuzzy. But I tried to get a picture of him for you, Buf.

We had to keep the windows closed because the air was on so there's a glare. There were fireworks and the players are running through that big helmet down through a line of cheerleaders.

Can you see Manning? Squint! :)

We were in that top section.
The final score was 23-10.

There's usually a group of players that kneel on the star after the game and pray.That's what they were doing here...

The mayor of Nairobi, Kenya was in our suite too. (how random!) He was in Dallas for the week and decided that a Cowboys game would be on his list of things to do. They call him "His Worship." I thought that was funny.

I went home last weekend for a quick trip before school starts. Reanne goes to the daycare at Emmanuel and they were performing a musical on Sunday night. She had a solo and sang her little heart out. She loves to watch Hannah Montana on the Disney Channel so my brother was calling her Reanna Montana. Then they came up with Reanna Louisiana. She couldn't wait to see herself on channel 4 the next night. She did great and wasn't nervous at all. She told me she was going to be singing in front of thousands! :)

I guess if I'm going to get anything done at school today, I better stop blogging now. Have a good weekend!

A new job!!!

2007-08-02T12:16:00.000-05:00

I forgot to mention earlier that I passed my special ed. test!!! And it's good thing because this week I was offered a new position that requires that certification. I will be teaching a small-group tutoring program called Read Right half of the day and going into classrooms and helping special ed. kids in small groups the other half of the day. I will be moving schools...again! It is such a chore packing and moving because teachers are such pack rats! We hate to get rid of anything, in case we need it someday. Last year my parents were a huge help with moving my classroom and apartment. Just the other day my dad told my mom that he sure was glad I wasn't moving this summer! :)

My Bunco friend Jaleen will be moving to my new school to teach 1st grade, my buddy Koby is the new assistant principal, and the new principal Tina used to be Jen Ken's principal. So it's a small world! I am excited about the change but am also sad to leave my 3rd grade team and school. They welcomed me with open arms and I learned so much in such a short time there.

Last night they had a birthday get-together for me at Frances' new house. I was nervous about telling them my news because I didn't want them to feel like I was deserting them. But they were so sweet and understanding. Not that I can't be replaced :) but I know it's not always easy finding teachers with experience at this time of the summer that still need a job.

Jessica, Kasey, Karla, me, and Frances
(Carmen and Susan were out of town)

mmmmmm, red velvet cake!

Yesterday my friend Joy and I went to visit Krista and baby Hannah. She's trying to get her on more of a schedule but it's not working as well as she planned. But all she does is sleep and eat...what a life! Hannah had so fun with Miss Mandy that she needed a nap! :)

Touchdown!

Still celebrating

2007-07-29T17:52:00.000-05:00

Last night I went to eat at Texas Love & War with Kristi, Jill & Demian, and Murry in Grapevine. We highly suggest the fried pickles and fried green beans! Then we went to Kristi's house and had birthday cake! It was sooooo yummy! It was the Sacher torte from la Madeleine's.

yep, I still like to use the automatic timer on my camera,
just like in college :)

Kristi cutting the cake

Sacher torte

Jill & Demian re-enacting their wedding reception...

I really appreciate all your birthday wishes, e-cards, gifts, and even a post about me for my birthday! This past week I have really been reminded of what great friends and family I have! Maybe I'll turn 30 every year from now on. :)

30 is the new 20, right? :)

2007-07-26T16:09:00.000-05:00

Since 30 is the new 20, I shouldn't feel any older, right? But I do!!! Some friends took me out to dinner last night. We had loads of fun! My friend Greg (in the white shirt below) works for Nokia and got me a new phone that's out in Europe. It's sooo cute! And it's red, my favorite color! It's a slide phone with an MP3 player, radio, camera, etc. I love it!

The group after dinner at Monica's...

Me and Koby

The black and white girls...Wendi, me, and Melinda

So far 30 hasn't been that bad. I already had gray hair, wrinkles, and bad eyesight so what else is new!?!? :)

Monday I went with some friends to a small waterpark called Bedford Splash that's here in HEB. My friend Karen has 2 sons. This one is DeWayne. Isn't he so cute in his floaty suit? The faces he can make with those eyebrows crack me up!

My friend Krista had her baby last Thursday. Her name is Hannah Marie. How sweet!!! I started tearing up when I first held her b/c they've been wanting a baby for a long time! There were some difficulties with the pregnancy so I was glad to finally have her here and healthy.

A couple of weeks ago my friend Margaret from Ruston came to town with her 3 kiddos. I entertained them some while she had some meetings and things to do. It's a rough life swimming with the kids at the 4 Seasons Hotel. :) Will chose for us to go to the Frontiers of Flight Museum at Love Field. It was really neat. They knew the names of all the planes because their dad is a pilot. Me? I knew Jay Jay the Jet Plane in the kiddie area. :) James chose the Bass Pro Shop. And Sarah Margaret wanted to swim!!! I don't get to see them much since I moved to Dallas so it was good to hang out with them. Sarah looks like she's about to cry but that's her "say cheese" face.

And one more picture...my soon-to-be 2nd grade niece Reanne--chewing her food has got to be difficult!

New Braunfels

2007-07-06T16:57:00.001-05:00

The river...

Last week, even though most of Texas was flooding, some friends and I headed down to New Braunfels to float the river. We usually float the Comal River but it looked like chocolate milk and was closed. So we drove to the San Marcos River and it was just fine. It was flowing a little faster than usual, but other than that, it was perfect.

On Friday while the guys went on a little road trip, the girls got to visit a previous Bunco member Karen who lives close to Gruene now. Karen was my librarian my 1st year in Irving. She's a hoot! She now lives on the river and loves it. We ate lunch at the Gristmill. Yum!!! Right next door is the oldest country dance hall in Texas called Gruene Hall. George Strait started his career there.

Chris, Sarah, Karen, Wendi, and me

We floated once on Friday and twice on Saturday. On our last trip down the river, it started raining. It had been sunny the whole time. We even got sunburns. The San Marcos River doesn't have any waterfalls or chutes so there was going to be no losing hats or sunglasses this year. And then what do I do?!?! Lose my sunglasses! We had pulled over to the side to hang out in the water for a little while. I had my glasses on my head and leaned back laughing and off they fell into the river. Luckily they were a cheap pair I had bought especially for times like this.

We bought some new tubes this year. Sarah and Jeff live in New Braunfels so they're going to store them for us until next time. Usually we rent the big black tubes that get so hot in the sun. So the new blue and white ones were nice!

Jeff getting the new tubes ready

Don't forget Mike's feet!

hot mamas!

Wendi and I after the rain (see--no sunglasses)

Special Ed...

Ok, so I have a question for you smart people. I'm interested in trying to get a "Read Right" teaching position in my district. I won't bore you with the details of what it is. Anyway...most schools have to use special ed money to help pay for these teachers so you have to be special ed certified. So I signed up to take the special ed test and printed off a study guide that gives you samples of the types of questions you'll have. So here is a math one that I don't get. Remember that I haven't done anything above 3rd grade math in the last 7 years! :)

Using a protractor, a student measures the sum of the interior angles in a triangle and obtains 176 degress. What is the percent error of this measurement?
A. 0.04%
B. 2.22%
C. 2.27%
D. 4.00%

It told me the correct answer, but I don't have a clue how to find it. Can anyone tell me? It doesn't really matter because it was just a sample, and I already took the real test today, but I was just curious.

4th of July

Here are 2 of my favorite little friends on our way to see fireworks for the 4th. Connor loves to see the pictures and my camera is kinda slow so he usually moves before I have the shot. But I finally got him to stay still on one.

Riley and Connor

My new house :)

2007-06-26T22:39:00.000-05:00

My friends Brenda and George are gone to London for a couple of weeks and I get the wonderful job of housesitting for them. I even have a pool guy. I was hoping he would be as cute as the one on Desperate Housewives, but no such luck. :) They have a pool in the back but it's rained every stinkin day since I've been there! And the weather channel says it's going to continue raining almost until they get back next week! Ugh! This isn't a very good picture but I knew I was coming over to my apartment tonight to download some other pictures so I thought I would take a quick pic in the rain.

This past weekend my mom came in town for a visit. She brought me a book she had heard about called On My Own Two Feet...a modern girl's guide to personal finance. I'm already about halfway done and learning a lot. If only I had thrown away my credit card a few years ago! :(
Friday night we went to the Dancing with the Stars show at the American Airlines Center. It was SOOO much fun. Here are a couple of pics I have so far. My camera batteries died halfway through the show so I will have to wait on more pics from my mom. Then I'll make a slideshow. The 4 stars were Joey Lawrence, Joey Fatone, Joey McIntyre, and Drew Lachey. The dancers were Cheryl, Julianne, Kym, and Edyta. The guys did a lot of singing. They all performed really well...both singing and dancing! We moved closer during the intermission and I was so ticked that my camera wasn't working! But here are a few...

The 4 guys

Joey Fatone and Kym

Joey McIntyre and Julianne
Joey Lawrence and Edyta
Edyta signing autographs

Saturday night I went to Jen Ken and Brad's wedding in Fort Worth with Jill and Demian. My camera was acting up so my few pictures turned out blurry. :( But Jill has posted some good ones and Ashley will have some soon. It was fun seeing lots of Tech folks. I can't remember the last time I saw Brandi Howard!!! She hasn't changed a bit! :)

Sunday morning we got up and went to Denton Bible Church. I went about 5 or 6 years ago with Coreen but haven't been since they've moved into their huge new building. I was hoping to run into Coreen's parents but no such luck.

That afternoon we went to Sam's and Mom bought me another early birthday present. You might recall that I love the Deen boys, right? Well, they have a new cookbook that just came out. My goal is to get it signed by them soon. :) A girl can dream, can't she?!?!

summer fun...

2007-06-15T00:09:00.000-05:00

I went to Ruston last weekend for a few days. While I was there, I got to see Reanne's new smile...minus a few teeth. And I got my haircut and highlights done (it's so much cheaper than in Dallas!). Reanne said we had matching hair except hers is not blond like Aunt Mandy's.

Last summer I went with some friends to Addison for the 4th of July fireworks show. Well, several of my friends pulled out their college chairs and it made me want one. I put it on my Christmas list. But when my mom checked at the Tech Bookstore in December, they said it was a seasonal item. But now they have them, so she got me one. Isn't it cute?!?! (Mine is in my trunk, this pic is from their website) Now I'm ready for the 4th, BBQ's, picnics, etc.

Wednesday my friend Mike was watching Emeril on the Food Network and got inspired to cook an Italian dinner for several of our friends. So we went to Sprout's and got all the ingredients and BAM! here is the final product...pasta con pesto siciliano and eggplant, asparagus (made my yours truly), and chicken in a lemon and white wine sauce with capers on top. It was sooo yummy! And it really wasn't that hard. I should try to cook more often. Anybody want to be my guinea pig that will eat what I cook?

And here is Mike and Wendi's little boy Connor that you've seen before. He loves the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles right now. He went to watch his sister's gymnastics class the other day and saw a "ninja class" going on (tae kwon do) and decided he needed to join. So here he is in his "ninja" outfit.

I'm enjoying my summer so far. I had a technology training yesterday and learned lots of great things for my classroom. We'll see if I remember any of them in August. :) Today my plan was to lay by the pool (I know, what a hard life, huh?) but it's supposed to rain...again! Tonight we're having a baby shower for my friend Krista at Bunco. Should be fun. Have a good weekend!

the beginning of SUMMER!!!!!!!!

2007-06-04T20:58:00.000-05:00

Today is my first official day of summer. Woo hoo!!!! I got to spend some time with my little buddy DeWayne. Isn't he the cutest thing? Last week some friends and I went to GameWorks to act like kids again. We had fun being silly. And at the end are a couple of pics of Carson and Connor, DeAnn's little boys. I kept them while Anna Claire had a dance recital.

Concerts and such...

2007-05-20T16:41:00.000-05:00

Here's what I've been up to the past few weeks...

Now the countdown to the end of school has begun! As of today (Sunday), there are only 8 more days with kids and 1 workday. Woo hoo!!! :)

Procrastination 101

2007-04-22T00:48:00.000-05:00

So last time I was telling you about Flat Stanley. Well, I thought I read the letter and it said he was due back to Ruston on the 27th. But come to find out, he's due back to school on Tuesday!!! So he and I had a very busy day on Saturday. My good friend Sarah (that I now owe big) took some pictures of Stanley while I went to Jill's wedding on Saturday. Unfortunately I have no pictures of the wedding to show you because my camera was with Sarah and Stanley. But the wedding was wonderful and Jill was a beautiful bride! I do have a pic from her shower the other day though.

Here are some of Stanley's adventures while in Dallas. Here are his "before" and "after" shots, thanks to Shandra's suggestion. :) The hat is a little out of proportion, but he had big feet to cover up! His Aunt Mandy definitely isn't an art teacher!

Our state flower, the bluebonnets...

Texas Stadium...

My school...

The letter that came with Stanley asked for me to send back some souvenirs and stuff that tells about my city. I found some Texas postcards at Wal-Mart so I bought enough for the whole class. Then I went to a hotel and got some tourist brochures about Six Flags, the Dallas and FW zoos, the wax museum, and all that kinds of stuff. I also sent the program and a pom pom from the Desperados game and a light-up necklace from the Stars game from last week. And you'll never guess how much it cost to ship little Stanley overnight to Ruston?!?!?! I don't even want to say! Someday I'm going to stop being so good at procrastinating! Someday! :)

This afternoon I went with some friends to my first Rangers game of the season. They were playing the Oakland A's. We won 4 to 3. I got to see Sammy Sosa play, although not very well.

For those of you that are familiar with the Ozarka Dot Race, they've added life sized dots this year that race on the field...
Jeff, Melissa, Me, and Scott (almost) all decked out in our Ranger gear.Now I can't wait for July when Dave Dellucci comes to Texas with the Indians!!!

April...

2007-04-18T16:44:00.000-05:00

I've been getting my class ready for another TAKS test lately. They took the Math test yesterday. But now the hard part is being quiet the rest of the week while all of our neighbors are still testing!

Have you ever heard of Flat Stanley? It's a kids' book about a little boy named Stanley . One night while he's sleeping, the bulletin board on his wall falls on him and flattens him. It's a really cute story about how he can do neat things now that he's flat. One thing is that he wants to go visit his friend in California but can't afford to go. So his parents mail him there. In class, the kids make a small sized Stanley and send him somewhere. Then the person that receives him is supposed to take him places and take pictures of him doing things in their city, etc. I 1st read this book when I was student teaching with Mrs. Liz Hood. Now my niece Reanne is in her class and has given me her Flat Stanley to take around Dallas. So far, he's met my 3rd grade class (which I guess I better not post on here) and been to a Stars playoff game. I want to take a picture of him with our state flower (the bluebonnets) but every time I drive by the field in the airport, there are always several people taking family pics, etc. And I would feel a little funny pulling out a little paper boy to take a picture of. But I'm going to do it this weekend...I keep telling myself. :) On Saturday, Stanley's going to visit Texas Stadium and the Rangers Ballpark.

Here are some pics from the pre-game activities at the Stars game.

Those Stars fans are serious about hockey! These are some of the best-dressed fans. Our favorite was the guy with the green mohawk who painted himself green with blue stars. They got a free ticket to the game if they dressed up crazy.

You gotta love when there's a fight at a hockey game! :)

Monday night I went with a couple of friends to another Desperados game. Once again, didn't really want to take Stanley inside so he stayed in the car. :) I got to see history in the making. Dallas' quarterback Clint Dolezel made his 800th touchdown in his 12 years of playing arena football.

Here's a picture of the hail that hit my car last Friday night. There were reports of baseball-sized hail a couple of miles away, so I guess mine wasn't too bad. But watching it hit my car and listening to the sirens going off was a creepy feeling! Luckily the tornado passed me by though.

Here are a few pics from when I went home for Easter...

Spring Break

2007-03-18T17:18:00.000-05:00

It's been a good Spring Break!!! I hate to see it end. :( I went to a Dallas Desperados arena football game last weekend with a few friends. I didn't get very good pictures though. My camera batteries died halfway into the game!

I went home for several days to visit my family. Since my nieces weren't on their Spring Break, I didn't get to see them much. But here's a pic of Reanne posing, as she loves to do!!!

I also got to go visit Megan and Jolie at their house. Unfortunately Todd was at the BCM that night. Megan and I had a good time catching up and Jolie is precious! I hate that I forgot to take pictures!

My friend Sarah and I went down to Greenville Avenue in Dallas to the St. Patrick's Day parade yesterday. It seemed more like a Mardi Gras parade because they throw beads more than candy. It was fun! Then later that night we hung out with some friends in Addison and Bedford.

I have a prayer request...tomorrow my aunt is having triple bypass surgery so please say a prayer for her. She's in the hospital in Shreveport. Thank you!

Now I'm off to do some lesson plans and probably take some tylenol pm soon. My body is not used to going to bed early so tonight is going to be fun. But waking up early in the morning is going to be even worse! Have a good week!

Pics from the last couple of weeks...kinda random...

2007-03-07T19:54:00.000-06:00

Last Saturday we had a wedding shower for Jilly Bean at my apartment. It was good to see everybody and catch up. Here are the hostesses with Jill. And here are some other girls that came. Several people were already gone by the time we took this picture.

I've never even been to the real Mardi Gras...don't particularly want to go actually. Remember when we used to get 2 days off for it in college though? It happened to fall on the TAKS Test Day this year. My friend Sarah and I found a Cajun restaurant that was giving out beads. Now I'm craving crawfish. :)

My friends Mike and Wendi invited people over to watch the Oscars a couple of weeks ago. We all filled out a ballot sheet but I had only heard of about 4 of the movies. So needless to say, I did not win! I didn't think the Oscars were ever going to end that night! Here's a self-portrait of me and my friend Jeff. He brought a Oscar-like trophy that he had received from work and we were over in the kitchen making acceptance speeches.

My niece Reanne emailed me today. She was at home sick with my dad. It was such a sweet email. My mom told her I'm coming home for a few days over Spring Break next week. She can't wait for me to come home. She loves her Aunt Mandy...what can I say. :)

We have Open House at school tomorrow night. That's where the kids bring their parents and show them what all we've been doing this year. We've got all kinds of projects hanging up everywhere, power points will be on every computer, the whole nine yards. We make the kids be their parents' tour guides so that keeps them busy and they won't want to conference with me...hopefully! Have I mentioned that I am ready for Spring Break next week?!?! :)

I'm sad there's not going to be a new episode of Grey's tomorrow night. I got spoiled to those for a while there. Like the title of this post says...random! Have a good weekend!

The big 3-0!!!

2007-03-05T09:15:00.000-06:00

Happy 30th Birthday, Kristi!!!! I hope you enjoy this new decade. You'll have to let me know how it is. Send her an email or a comment on her blog and wish her happy birthday. For those of you that have already hit the big 3-0, do you have any good advice for her?

Mardi Gras

2007-02-19T18:28:00.000-06:00

Well, I forgot to take any pictures once my Mardi Gras Bunco night started. But I did get a picture of the plates and sign on my door before everyone got there. Oops! We were having too much fun to remember to take pics.

Somehow I just deleted the rest of the pictures that were on my camera. I was trying to figure out a way to make them smaller and guess I hit the wrong button. Usually it will ask before doing something major like deleting everything, but not this time. I was going to show you some pics from the Stars and Sharks game yesterday. Oh well.

I did manage to download some pics on Saturday though. I went to Hobby Lobby last weekend and bought a few things for my walls. Here is a picture of the scrolly thing I bought to go above my bed. I was afraid it was too big, but once it was on the wall, it worked perfectly.

And here's the picture I got to go above my dresser. My favorite color is red, but I decided to go with blue and khaki for my bedroom when I moved last summer. The rest of the apartment is red so I thought I would try something new. Now I should be done buying for a while! But who can resist a 1/2 off sale!!! :)

So tomorrow is the big day...TAKS test time! It's going to be such a looooong, boring day. They've changed it a little this year. We have to actively monitor ALL day long...no sitting! Probably the hardest part for me will not to have my computer on. :) I told my kids that I knew it was going to be boring for them, but to think about me...all I can do is watch them! :) Please say a prayer for a few of my little angels. The whole not talking thing is going to be reeeeeally hard for them! The only thing I can tell them is "I can't help you with that, just try the best you can." They're so used to asking for help, which is a good thing, but tomorrow will be hard for them. We've been practicing though so it won't be a shock to them.

My school has decided not to let them read a book when they're done so they won't rush through the test. They're allowed to rest as much as they want. Well, the other day we were taking a practice test and one of my boys BaQuavious (his twin BaZavious) is across the hall) decided to take a nap and drooled all over his book. So I told them if they think they need to rest and might possibly be a drooler, for goodness sakes, close the book first and move it out of the way! :)

Jilly Bean

2007-02-15T12:05:00.000-06:00

I am so sorry that I forgot to mention my fabulous lunch with Jill last Saturday. (see her comment from my last post) Jill, I was afraid that people would be jealous that I got to spend time with you so I didn't want to brag. :) We met at Gloria's in Colleyville and had some yummy bean dip and quesadillas. And as Jill said, our waiter was muy guapo! He must have forgotten that we were supposed to go out that night. :)

I doubt any of you have time to watch General Hospital, or care to, but in case you do...check out the commercial that comes on before the show each day this week. They had a contest called FANtastic February where someone from the show would come and do your job for a day and then they would fly you out to LA and let you be on their show. Well, my friend Jamye from my old school WON! So Bob the Bachelor and Jason Thompson who plays Patrick Blake went to Hanes and hung out in the 1st grade all day. Isn't that cool? Several of my friends emailed me that day and said how cute Jason was and how sweet Bob was. I only watched a couple of seasons of The Bachelor and Bachorette, but Bob was one of the ones I watched. Of course I'm sad that I wasn't there to peek in, but such is life. You can click on the link and watch a video with Jamye in it.

Only 2 more school days until TAKS!!! Ok, Jilly Bean, are you happy now? :)

Time flies...

2007-02-10T15:21:00.000-06:00

I know, I know, I haven't blogged in a month! But I haven't done anything exciting enough to tell you about. :) And you know how I like to put pictures on here, and since I have no new pictures, I technically have nothing to blog about. :)

All I know about lately is TAKS!!! Feb. 20th is the day we take the Reading TAKS test. This is the one that my kids have to pass in order to pass 3rd grade. They get a 2nd chance in April, and if they fail again, they have to go to summer school then take it a 3rd time. And in April is our Math test but it doesn't necessarily count as much. There's just a lot of pressure put on the teachers. When the scores come back, it's YOUR name next to the number of YOUR kids that failed. It's no fun. But anyway...that's all I've been thinking about lately.

This Friday Bunco is at my house. It should be fun fitting 12 people and 3 extra tables into my 2 bedroom apartment. I've decided to go with the Mardi Gras theme. One girl is going to bring a King Cake from Central Market. I need to go buy some beads and stuff to decorate with. Being from Louisiana, I should have some stuff already but I don't. It will be good times. If only we could have beignets and coffee from Cafe Du Monde. Yum! I know I could try to make my own, but it just wouldn't be the same.

Well, I hope you're having a good weekend. Just wanted you to know that I am still alive and kicking. :)

Happy New Year!!!

2007-01-07T16:04:00.000-06:00

I can't believe it's already 2007. It seems like this school year just started. That's the way I seem to measure my years...by when school starts and ends. I love being out of school but it's also nice to be on somewhat of a schedule too. But is it bad that I'm already looking forward to being off for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Yeah, I know...pitiful!

I had a great Christmas break. I spent about a week in Ruston with my family. It was nice and relaxing. I hate that I don't get to see my nieces more often. But it makes the time we spend together that much more special. Reanne left me a message the other day asking when I was going to move closer to her.

I also got to visit the Barr family and the Davisons while in Ruston. I didn't get any pictures of it, but I went to dinner one night with 6 girls I went to high school with. We had a great time catching up. I hadn't seem some of them since graduation. I usually have my camera in my purse but forget about it.

Anyway, here are the pics from Christmas. I promise I have friends my own age, but it's more fun to take pics of kids. :) Happy New Year!

Wedding BELLS

2006-12-11T21:04:00.000-06:00

Saturday several of us headed to Tyler for Chris and Amy's wedding. First, we met at the Renshaws for lunch. Oh my gosh, their 3 girls have GROWN! Kennedy is almost as tall as Coreen! And sadly, they didn't remember us from when they were little. Kennedy and Stephanie are in the 6th grade and Stephanie is in 3rd.

Here are some pics from the day...

Mr. and Mrs. Drake cutting the cake

How 'bout them Dawgs?!?!

Kayla & Clay with their kids, Shannon, and Ashley

Coreenie

Todd, Megan, and Jolie--quite the entertainer she is!

Me, Jill, and Shannon

The Renshaw bunch

Me and Todd

Greg, Jeff, and Todd solving the world's problems

The girls

Unfortunately, Stacy Colvin is only in the group pic. She was a busy bee being part of the house party. Sorry, Stace! :)

2006-12-03T18:25:00.000-06:00

I’ve really been slacking at updating this blog lately. You’ve probably stopped checking to see if I’ve written anything new. :) I caught up on reading all of y’alls blogs this afternoon. I love all the pics and all the deep thoughts. But after reading everyone else’s, it makes me think I really don’t have anything to write about. :) But today I do…

Last night my church hosted Mission Colleyville. It’s an outreach where we invite less fortunate families, especially focusing on the Hispanics in the area, to come to our church for the evening. We have each family register when they get there (that’s where I worked for most of the night). Then they get a free meal, a concert by the Christian group Salvador, a box of groceries from Feed The Children, and a voucher to come to our “toy store” in a couple of weeks. They set up a huge white tent in the parking lot that seated 5,000 inside and it was overflowing. Unfortunately the fire marshal made them turn off the heaters because they were a fire hazard, so it was quite chilly all night. Jay Lowder from Wichita Falls preached while another man interpreted the message into Spanish. There were 75 decisions made and 3 baptisms. They announced this morning that approximately 5,300 people came and looking at the registration cards, there will be about 4,500 kids needing toys. And our goal is to give each child 3 toys. It was such a blessing to be a part of this last night. We lost our pastor a few months ago and therefore several hundred members since then, so I was curious to see what kind of response we would get. But God's plans are so much bigger and better than ours!!!

I enjoyed time with family over Thanksgiving. My niece Reanne spent the night with me. She wanted to put on Aunt Mandy’s makeup so of course I said yes. Is there another answer to such a cute face?!?! She had a blast. It reminded me of when I was little and did the same thing. I can remember my brother coming in my room and telling me, “I didn’t know we were playing circus. I want to look like a clown too.” Sad thing is that I don’t know how to put on makeup any better today than I did then. :)

I was quickly reminded that whenever you get out a mirror or a camera, Reanne loves to look at herself and pose. She acts like a pro. We even watched “What Not to Wear” together. Apparently she likes that show and Rachael Ray. Why does she like to watch a cooking show at such a young age? Because Rachael Ray likes to talk a lot, just like her!

Have a good week!

Workin' at the car wash...

2006-11-06T21:30:00.000-06:00

Jessica and Meg and I got to go to a wedding shower for Amy Fewell this weekend. It was quite fancy. It was at the Four Seasons in Las Colinas. That’s where they have the Byron Nelson. It was fun catching up with Amy. The other girls had all worked at Pine Cove. It made me miss some of my old Cho-Yeh friends. Anyway, we played a game where Amy had to answer your question before she could open your present. We ended up learning a lot about her fiance’ Chris so that was fun.

I talked to my friend Karen today. She taught with me at my last school and lives in the neighborhood across the street from me. She’s one of my friends that is always watching out for a single guy to set me up with. One day she almost brought home a guy she saw at the car wash. She then asked if she could start carrying around a picture of me so she could show them what I look like and they wouldn’t think she was totally making it all up. (No, I did not give her a picture!) So this weekend she and her husband were walking around in their neighborhood (of Sandlin homes—this comes in later) and noticed that one of the houses that they like was open and someone was about to move in. So they go up to it and this young guy is working in it. Come to find out, he’s Mr. Sandlin’s son. And he’s moving in. So Karen’s husband Jeremiah proceeds to befriend him and finds out that he’s single and will be living in that big house all by himself. Karen said I need to come over and go walking in her neighborhood with her. :)

Speaking of marriages (jk!)…in less than 2 weeks my friend Lisa will be getting married to Glenn. You’ll never believe how they met?!?! ;) Congratulations, Lisa!

The computer tech person at my school was finally able to put a picture of my 3rd grade team on our website. This was taken the day before school started back in August. I'm having trouble adding pictures today for some reason so that's why they're so small.

Tomorrow my assistant principal is coming to observe me. Every year we have to be formally observed. It always makes me nervous to think that someone is listening to every word I say and watching every move I make. It’s one thing for a bunch of kids to do it, but it’s different for it to be one of my principals with a notepad! Anyway, it will be during my math time so that’s good. We’re starting temperature so that will be quite interesting. I’ve decided to pass out the thermometers in the morning (during reading time) and get that excitement out of the way. Then maybe they’ll act better the 2nd time they see them. :) Oh, the little tricks of teaching!

Boo!

2006-10-14T08:43:00.003-05:00

Look how cute my nieces are.

Their Aunt Mandy mailed them these Halloween shirts.

The little one really likes to have her picture taken.

Here she's blowing me a kiss. :)

Last night I went out to eat with some friends at Anamia's.

Mike and Wendi's little boy Connor stole my heart

from the day he was born.

He's 2 now. Isn't he adorable?!

He's going to be Buzz Lightyear for Halloween.

He's already started wearing his wings and won't

take them off when they go places. He's so funny!

Start spreading the news...

2006-10-07T16:04:00.000-05:00

Last Friday, Sept. 29th, a group from my church choir went to New York for the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir Music Conference. We went last year and had so much fun that we decided to make it a tradition. We arrived in New York and went to our hotel in Brooklyn. Then we walked to lunch at a pizza place under the Brooklyn Bridge. (I still prefer Johnny's Pizza though.)

Pastor Jim Cymbala's wife Carol is the choir director and leader of the conference. Many of you might remember some of their songs we sang in college. It's so cool being there after reading their books. Friday nights are their usual choir practice time, so the whole choir came and sang with us, then sang for us. On Sunday, we got to go on stage and sing with them the songs we had practiced. Carol told us about the whole process of getting into the choir, auditioning, being interviewed, etc. It made me glad that my choir director didn't make me audition! A lot of their choir members don't read music so Carol teaches the notes like Shayla used to teach me in children's choir when I was little. Carol holds her arm in front of her and moves it up if the note goes up and then down, etc. I can sort of read music but I can't necessarily sing what I see. So this is a good method for me. Although anytime you want to hear a G in perfect pitch, just ask Todd.

Here are my roommates for the weekend...Mitzi, Natalie, and Debbie. On Saturday, we went sightseeing. We're on our way to Canal Street to do some shopping. We even went "underground" for some purse shopping. Quite an experience!

That night, Natalie and I went on a night tour on a double decker bus. It started raining a little while we were waiting to leave.

No matter where I go, I always seem to find some men in uniform. What's sad is that they look 12! That must mean I'm getting OLD!

My favorite part of New York is Times Square.

Radio City Music Hall

Mmmmmm...the Hershey's store!

The Wall Street bull

On Sunday after church, we went to Ground Zero.

This is part of a steel beam that made a cross shape.

This is the view looking down into the where the towers were. That's the subway system below.

Here's a poster showing the Freedom Tower that's going to be built there.

There were 18 of us that went. Here is part of the group waiting for the subway. That's my new fake Coach purse. :)

Good times!

Friends and babies...

2006-09-23T23:19:00.000-05:00

Today I got to see a lot of BSU girls (and Justin) at Amy’s shower. She got so much great stuff. She was excited about it all being blue for Baby JP. And that little Sadie is adorable and not at all shy! I forgot to take my camera so you’ll have to look at pictures on everyone else’s blogs. Michelle's little Elliot had me wrapped around his finger in no time. Those big blue eyes are beautiful. And according to little Sawyer, his mommy Meredith is pretty funny because boy can he giggle! It was great seeing everyone. It was so sweet of those that traveled so far to be here. We're all blessed to have made such great friends in college.

A few nights ago I got to keep my friend Karen’s little boy DeWayne while she went to the PTA picnic at my old school. She’s one of my closest friends from there. We live about 2 blocks from each other so I get to see her pretty often. DeWayne was sooooo sweet. His mommy doesn’t really like being outside so he doesn’t get to play much out there. So Miss Mandy let him explore the great outdoors. Now I have a new BFF. :) Isn’t he so cute?!?! You should’ve seen me trying to fix his hair after bathtime. :)

Come to find out, all 3 of my old principals were in the dunking booth at the picnic. I would have paid big bucks to have been the 1st one in line for that!

Here’s my old team at a Cowboys game a few weeks ago. The one on the left is Brenda. Her husband works for the Cowboys so we get to sit in a suite when we go. It's not quite the same as sitting in the middle of the crowd though. But the free food and air conditioning sure are nice. That's Karen, DeWayne's mom, in the middle. Lisa, in the black shirt, is getting married on the same day as the JAM in November. She got moved to 4th grade this year. Kelli moved school's this year like I did. Her husband is a youth minister. Brenda is now a pull-out reading teacher. So the team is all split up. :( But no matter how hard those principals tried, they can't keep us apart!

Breakfast with Megan

2006-09-18T21:04:00.000-05:00

Saturday morning I had the privilege of having breakfast at Simply You Café with some of my favorite girls. Megan, Jen, Linda, Meg, Jill, and I all got together and ate a yummy breakfast at Jen’s café. It was the first time I’ve seen Megan in a long time! We all had fun catching up and hanging out. We’re still trying to talk Jill into starting a blog!

By the way, Megan, the flags at Six Flags were at half staff because Gov. Ann Richards passed away last week (not because of Sept. 11th like I thought). Oops! I hope Team Extreme didn't pressure you into riding too many rides!

I’m looking forward to seeing lots of you this weekend for BSU Reunion ’06, as it’s been referred to. Michelle, I better start thinking now of something that no one else knows about me in case we play your game again like we did in Houston. :)

I just read Jessica’s blog about turning 30. And I must say, she’s taking it better than I am. I just turned 29 so I’ve got a ways to go, but when the day comes for me to turn 30, I’ll be wearing all black. But I guess it doesn’t sound as old as it used to. :) I remember when Dave Granger was old to me and he was probably 24. Those were the days...the good old days!

Sawyer

2006-09-12T22:48:00.000-05:00

I finally met little Sawyer last weekend. It was way overdue and I'm a horrible friend for not going to Justin and Meredith's a long time ago. Please forgive me! It's past my bedtime tonight so I'm not going to write much, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Sawyer loves to laugh at this pink pig!

Ashley and Austin tried to steal Baby Sawyer.

But Meredith caught them just in time!

Michael wanted to take the pig home but Sawyer wouldn't let him. :)

Look at those cheeks! Apparently, Sawyer has a little girlfriend named Georgia at daycare. Be careful, Sawyer...you're too young to be breaking hearts already!

Thanks for the food and fellowship, guys. It was fun!

Tonight I went out to eat with some of my old team members from my old school. This is us a couple of years ago...a little fuzzy though. Our kids were presenting a Farmer Brown-type musical that night at PTA so we decided to dress up too. I'm glad overalls aren't around much anymore. They were so not flattering.

We had so much fun catching up. It was a great stress-reliever! We talked and laughed for about 3 hours at La Hacienda Ranch (again, Jessica!). I miss them, but am really enjoying my new school. Lesson plans are still kickin my butt, but surely it will get better soon. If only I could figure out a way to keep my desk cleaned off!

f-i-r-e

2006-08-24T20:53:00.000-05:00

A year and a half ago my friend Koby was at his friend's house a couple of days after Christmas watching the news and he sees his condo building on the news...burning! The guy upstairs had started a fire and Koby's condo received major damage. He finally got to move in back in the spring after going through a huge ordeal with the insurance company and his HOA. I learned 2 good lessons...it could happen to anyone and make sure you have really good insurance, right?

So then about a year ago, I'm talking to Koby on the phone and drive up to my apartment and see 2 fire trucks by my building! My heart stopped! It ended up being a small fire in an apartment one hallway over from me. It was such a horrible feeling and hit way too close to home...literally. (I missed having Carrie as a roommate because we used to always watch interesting things from our balcony. She would have found out the scoop for me in a second!) :)

Now fast forward to this past Tuesday...I'm talking to Jessica and she proceeds to tell me that she saw my old apartment complex on the news. Guess why? Another FIRE in the building next to my old apartment! I went by to check it out and the roof is totally gone! There were several garages full of burned stuff. There must be some pretty irresponsible people in that neighborhood! Supposedly it took 50 firefighters to get the fire out. It started from a candle that fell on a mattress. So all of that to say, after 2 fires and Kristi's car being broken into there, I moved out just in time! :) I think that place is jinxed!

The 1st day of school went well yesterday. The 2nd day wasn't quite as good, but it will get better. The mean Miss Ginn is coming out tomorrow. No mercy! You can't let 'em see you smile until after Christmas. All teachers are familiar with that saying. :) And that's hard for me, but you've got to nip it in the bud or it will only get worse...mostly for me.

Tomorrow is Teacher Appreciation Night at the Rangers game. A big group of us are going from my new school. Should be fun. As soon as they post the picture of my new 3rd grade team, I'll put it on here.

My team leader Jessica went to try out for American Idol in San Antonio last week. She made it to the 2nd round which was being held today. So she went back to San Antonio, but unfortunately she didn't make the cut. They said she needed more expression when she sings. But she sang for us the other day, and she sounded pretty good. She'll be back to school tomorrow. I'm proud of her that she even tried out. I was going to, but I was just so busy getting my new classroom ready. :)

Well, this teacher better get herself to bed soon. Have a good weekend! 2 posts in one week, what will my readers think! :)

Go Cowboys!!!

2006-08-22T12:26:00.000-05:00

Did anyone watch last night’s Cowboys game? Well, I was working in my classroom, but they beat the Saints 30-7. This Saturday night I get to watch them play the 49ers. My friend has invited my old 2nd grade team to watch it from their suite. :) Should be fun!

Well, today the kiddos come for Meet the Teacher at 3:00. My room is pretty much ready. I hate to hang up too many posters because when we take the TAKS test, we have to cover it all up or take it down, but I don't like bare walls. Yesterday I called all 21 kids to tell them about today. (kind of late notice in my opinion, but I just did what the principal said) I talked to 7 families, left messages for 4, and the rest of the numbers were disconnected or unlisted. My school has a 46% mobility rate (lots of apartments around), so they said to prepare for about half of my class to move this year and more to move in. One little girl’s mom said she’s moving away a week after school starts. Several of the 2nd grade teachers have stopped by to see my class list and see which kids of theirs from last year that I have. Then they want to tell me all about each kid. But I only let them if they promise to be positive. I don’t want to know the bad stuff. Maybe the kid has changed over the summer, right? :)

Well, I better get back to work. Say a little prayer for the 1st day of school tomorrow. They’re expecting about 75 more kids than originally planned for. Good times! :)

hi ho, hi ho, it's back to work I go...

2006-08-14T23:15:00.000-05:00

Today was my last official day off for the summer. :( Now it's time to finish getting my classroom ready, sit through 4 days of boring trainings that only end up overwhelming me, then get ready for the kids to come. Jessica started school today and Carrie starts tomorrow. But since Irving goes to school until the middle of June (practically!), I still have a few more days to go. It's sad that I'm already looking forward to having Labor Day off, isn't it? :)

So did anyone besides Carrie and I watch the Ron Clark movie last night? I think all of us teachers should take a road trip to Atlanta to observe him in his classroom this year. He's going to be teaching 3rd grade, just like me. He said the other day that they're encouraging teachers to come to his Academy. While we're on that side of the country, we can swing through Savannah and meet Paula Deen's family...right, Jessica? ;)

Well, since I always get in trouble for never posting, I thought I would tonight before I get busy the rest of the week. And now do you see why I don't post when I have nothing to say? :) Here are the pictures I tried to put on my last post.

Michael and Meg...

The yummy cake Jessica brought...

And the girls...

I saw Ron Clark and turned 29...

2006-08-07T23:16:00.000-05:00

Last Friday my friend Sarah and I went to HEB ISD's Welcome Back Convocation. Technically, we don't work for HEB, we teach in Irving. But I had seen on Ron Clark's website that he would be speaking to HEB, so we wanted to go. I called my good buddy Jessica up (because she actually works for HEB) and she told me it was at FBC Euless.

If anyone could motivate me to be a better teacher, it's Ron Clark. He was Disney's Teacher of the Year in 2000, was on Oprah, and has written 2 books. He's taught in Harlem and is now opening a school in Atlanta. Sunday night on TNT you can watch a movie about him starring Matthew Perry. After Ron spoke, the superintendent got up to speak so Sarah and I slipped out early and I got Ron to autograph my book. I took some pics too but I can't get any to upload right now.

Saturday night Kristi had a few people over to celebrate my birthday and hang out. Jessica got more pictures than me so hopefully she'll post those soon. :) I'll add mine if I ever get them to upload. We had a good time. It's crazy how we live in the DFW area but never see each other. But it's also not like Garland and Fort Worth and Mansfield are close, either, right? :) Thank you, Kristi and Chris, for having us over. It was fun! I appreciate each of you that went!

If anyone has any helpful tips on adding pics, I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but I would appreciate the help. :)

I’m giving in to the pressure to update…

2006-08-01T16:26:00.000-05:00

Some of you just have no patience. :) Well, July was one long, busy month! I went to Ruston a couple of weeks ago and brought my dad back with me to help me pack up my apartment. Then my mom came, then the movers came, and now I’m all moved in. My new apartment is only about a mile from my old one. But the old neighborhood was starting to change, then Kristi’s car got broken into, so I decided I better find a new ‘hood. I would love for you to come by and visit sometime. I now have 2 bedrooms so you’d have your own bedroom. :) One of my favorite new additions is these French chef curtains. Cute, huh? And I still love the Peach Festival poster. It reminds me of my Ruston roots. :) Most of my apartment is red since that’s my favorite color.

I have a technology training tomorrow. I hate it when August comes because then I know my summer is just about over. :( I know, I know, for those of you that work year-round, you couldn’t care less. But for the teachers out there, you understand!

My next adventure is packing up my classroom at my old school and moving all my stuff to my new school. What a big job it’s going to be! I am NOT looking forward to it! Teachers are big pack-rats! We have to spend our own money on almost all of our supplies so you hate to give or throw things away. But I’m very ready to be out of there and get new principals. So even though I’m nervous about teaching 3rd grade…and TAKS…I’m excited too.

I went to see Kenny Chesney, Dierks Bentley, and Pat Green a couple of weeks ago. Carrie Underwood performed first but we were hiking through the parking pasture at that time. If any of you DFW people haven’t been to the new Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, take lots of cash with you! Parking was $20! And it took forever to get out of there. But the concerts were good and it wasn’t as hot as we thought it would be because the sun went behind the stadium. I tried to post a pic of Kenny and Uncle Kracker but can't get it to work.

I’ve gotten to spend a lot of time with my friends Mike and Wendi this summer. Mike teaches PE at my old school and Wendi taught 4th grade (that’s where they met, then they got married). Now she’s moving to be a vice principal. These are their precious kids Riley and Connor.

While I was in Ruston I got to hang out with my nieces some. Here they are. Ree’s going to be a first grader this year and J. will be in the 6th grade. I’m so glad I never have to go back to that awkward time of growing up. I much preferred college! Mostly because that’s where I met most of you that are reading this. :)

I hate that I never made it to Houston and College Station this summer. I will have to put that off until a weekend this fall sometime. Well, I hope this new post makes up for the all the time I wasn’t updating. I hope to see some of you soon.

P.S. Thanks to all of the birthday wishes on here. I was without internet last week while moving and wasn't able to write back. But I appreciated them all. :)

Mamma Mia!

2006-07-07T00:40:00.000-05:00

My original plans were to go to Ruston this weekend, but it didn’t work out. So I went shopping for furniture yesterday. I found a 2 bedroom apartment about ½ mile from where I live now that I’m going to move into at the end of this month. So I need another bedroom suite. Well, I’ve never bought bedroom furniture before…it’s expensive! And I haven’t even started looking at mattresses yet!

Last night I went to see Mamma Mia at Fair Park in Dallas. It was very good! If you’re not familiar with Mamma Mia, it’s about a girl who is getting married and doesn’t know who her father is. So she invites the 3 possible dads to her wedding. I won’t spoil the rest for you, just in case you have plans to see it someday. It was so cute! It’s all ABBA songs. My friends and I sat close to the top with no one on the row in front of us. So needless to say, we did some singing along.
Today we’re going to see Superman. I can’t wait! I always loved watching it when I was younger. Then there was the tv series with Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher too. You gotta love Superman...no matter what cute, dark-haired actor is playing him. :)

Well, have a good weekend!

A New Job!!!

2006-06-17T11:33:00.000-05:00

Well, I have finally decided to change schools for next year. I’ll be teaching 3rd grade at Townsell Elementary in Irving. It's one of the new schools in Irving that's only been opened about 3 years. I’m a little nervous because I’ve been at the same school for 6 years since I moved here. For the first 5 years at Hanes, my principal worked so hard at making our staff feel like a family. But then last summer she was moved to another school so this year has been a huge adjustment, and it’s time to move on. I’ll still get to see some of my closest friends from there because of Bunco, but there are some that I know I won’t see very often now. Leaving my “family” is hard, but there are several of us that are leaving so that helps a little. Probably the hardest part is that my 2nd grade team was very strong and a close-knit group and I hate that we’re all splitting apart (all but one of us are leaving). I’m nervous about starting from scratch with a new team, new school, new curriculum, etc., but I know it will all work out though! :)

Before I planned on changing schools, I had also decided to start looking for a little duplex or house to move into, to get out of this crowded apartment life. So now that I know where I’ll be working, I can narrow down my search for that. But my current apartment complex is ready for me to sign my lease now, so I’m in a little bit of a time crunch. And since now I get to pack up my classroom, I’m not looking forward to packing up my apartment too! So who knows, I might sign another lease and stay here for a little while longer.

Change is good, so I know that I will learn and grow from all of this. I just wanted to keep y’all up to date. Other than that, I’m so glad I’m finally done with trainings and curriculum writing and can now enjoy my summer break for a few weeks. If you have any extra boxes, please send them my way. :)

lindaspratt.com

2006-06-06T20:45:00.000-05:00

I think you should take a look at Linda Spratt's new website www.lindaspratt.com. You have beautiful pictures on there, Linda. I wish I had paid more attention to your photography lessons at Shandra's house. :) And I even noticed the link to Jen's cafe. When I hear of someone getting married, I'll tell them all about your photography. I'm so excited for you that you're going full-time now. I always knew back in college when you took pics of my brother and I for my parents, that you would be a professional someday. I'm glad I could be one of your first guinea pigs. :)

Shandra...

2006-06-06T01:02:00.000-05:00

Shandra,
I know you and Matt and Andrew were sad to see Kristi leave Houston, but I must say that I am glad to have her back in DALLAS! :) I got to hang out with her tonight for the first time since February, I think, and it was a blast! I can always be myself around Kristi, no matter what. So although you might be sad, Shandra, I'm sorry...but I am glad! Welcome back, KrisTee!!!

And she'll have fun, fun, fun till her Daddy takes the T-Bird away...

2006-05-29T10:04:00.000-05:00

Even though the rest of the world is through with school, good ole Irving is still going. We have 3 more days with kids and then a work day on Friday. Wednesday and Thursday are half-days with the kids, so Tuesday we are having our end-of-the-year party. Last year my room-mom had a Luau theme. This year I don't have a room-mom so I decided to do a Luau again. I bought them all leis and a friend downloaded some Hawaiian music for me. They'll do the limbo and some hula dancing and no telling what else. :) It should be fun! I will miss a few of my kids, but I have some b-a-d boys this year that I am looking forward to promoting on to 3rd grade!

Next week I'm off on Monday, then have trainings the rest of the week. Then for the next 2 weeks I was asked to help write curriculum at the Ad Building. That should be loads of fun. But it was a shorter time period than summer school so I decided to go for it. A group from my church choir is going to New York again this fall to the Music Conference at the Brooklyn Tab, so I wanted to make a little extra money for that.

Then my summer officially begins. I know, I know, those of you that aren't teachers couldn't care less about my summer break. But you probably make more money than me since you work all year so we'll call it even. :) One weekend, my mom and aunt and cousins are coming in for a girls weekend of shopping and such. At the top of my list is meeting little Sawyer B., because I'm a horrible friend and haven't done that yet. Also, I'm hoping to make a trip to Houston sometime this summer. Kristi keeps telling me how sweet little Andrew is and about all of his tricks he can do, so I'm dying to see him again! Who wants to go with me or meet there? I think I've already roped in Jill. I'll be making a couple of trips to Ruston throughout the summer so I hope to meet Stahley Sears and see the Nidas when I go through Shreveport. Mrs. Kathy, I'll call you when I come into town! Once the Strains are all moved in to Monroe, I'll definitely be making a stop there to see them and Stacy. And before the summer ends, it will all be worthwhile if I find myself an Aggie when I go visit Carrie and Jason in College Station. :)

Sounds like I better take out a loan to pay for all that gas! I hope all of you are having a good Memorial Day weekend! I hope to see you this summer!

Let's Do the Twist

2006-05-15T15:48:00.000-05:00

I'm sorry but I have nothing new to blog about.But I recently received a link to this dancing video clip. It's hilarious! I hope it makes you get up and dance! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMH0bHeiRNg&eurl

The Wait Is Over...

2006-04-29T14:01:00.000-05:00

I know, I know...it's been forever since I've blogged. Sorry! But I really haven't had anything new to blog about lately. But I did find out some good news yesterday. About 6 weeks ago our principal told us that we needed to start getting ESL certified because our school had one of the lowest number of ESL certified teachers. So in June there is going to be a 2 day training before the test, but I just didn't have the desire to spend 2 days doing that. So I talked a couple of my 2nd grade teacher friends into going out on a limb and taking the test with me a few weeks ago, with no training. And surprisingly, they did it! We studied the few sample questions online, but other than that, without going to a class, that was about all we could do. So the week before the test, our principal started calling teachers into her office to tell them if she was moving them to another grade level next year. First, she asked me if I would be willing to move to 1st or 3rd grade. I wasn't excited to leave my friend Karen in 2nd grade, but I told her I would do 3rd grade but not 1st. So for about a week, I was thinking that's what I would do. Then a couple of days before our test, she calls me back in and tells me I'm staying in 2nd grade. So it was a rough couple of weeks and we couldn't care less about our test at this point. But we go and take it and then have to wait 3 weeks for our results to be online. So yesterday afternoon I finally found out that I PASSED!!! Yeaaaa! Now what does this mean, you might ask. Not a whole lot. Basically, because they're getting rid of our ESL teacher that pulls kids out for an hour each day, it means that now we're going to be responsible for working more with them in our class. But, I'm throwing around the idea of switching districts next year, so really it's just another thing to add to my resume'. But at least it's over, and since I passed, Irving will pay me back for the cost of the test. :) Jessica, what are the HEB elementary schools like? I'm tempted to try one... :)

For those of you who sang in the Temple Tech Choir, if you're not busy Wednesday night, the Brooklyn Tab Ensemble (not the whole choir) is coming to Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler. A couple of my friends and I are going to drive over. Anybody want to meet us there? They put out a new CD last year and are touring around the country. I'm so excited because I'm going back to New York this fall again with my church choir to the Brooklyn Tab Conference. We had a blast last year so I'm excited about going back.

Ok, that's all the news I have. But probably nobody is even checking my blog anymore since it's been so long since I last posted something new. :) How about anyone who's in the area next weekend, we meet at Jen's Cafe for lunch??? Anybody???

Take Me Out to the Ballgame...

2006-04-03T22:04:00.000-05:00

Today was Opening Day for baseball. I took the day off and went to see the Rangers play. Unfortunately they lost 7-3 to the Red Sox. But that's ok, they'll do better when I go back Wednesday night with some friends from work. We had really good seats today thanks to my friend Lori's husband's hook-up. It's nice to have connections sometimes. :)

The biggest flag I've ever seen.

Unfortunately my favorite Rangers player David Dellucci got traded to the Phillies this weekend. So Opening Day just wasn't quite the same without him there today. :(

They didn't time these fighter jets correctly, so they drowned out the 2nd part of Charley Pride singing the national anthem.You gotta love a man in a uniform. :)
I always thought when we were at Tech that we had school spirit until I moved to Texas. Well, actually, my first encounter with Aggies was at Cho-Yeh during college. But now that I live in Texas and am surrounded by Aggies and Longhorns and Sooners (oh my!), it makes me think we don't have as much school spirit as we should have. UT's coach Mack Brown got to throw out the first pitch today and their band was part of the pre-game show. There was burnt orange everywhere! A lot of times when people around here ask where I went to school, I have to clarify LOUISIANA Tech, not Texas Tech. Most of them have heard of LSU, but usually not La Tech. It makes me sad that it's not more well-known. You'd think since it's only 4 hours away, it would be more familiar, but it's not. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm glad I grew up in Ruston and knew about Tech and had the privilege of going there. I love the memories I have from those 5 :) years of my life. What's one of your favorite memories from college? (And surely it involves me!) ha ha!

Bunco Babes

2006-03-25T11:53:00.000-06:00

Once a month I get together with 11 other girls and we play Bunco. Ever heard of it? We started playing a few years ago and it is a blast! All of the girls teach at my school or have in the past. We get together once a month at each other’s houses. Mostly it’s a time to relax, relieve stress, and enjoy fellowship with friends. We put $10 in the pot and then there are different prizes at the end of the game…the person with the most wins, most losses, most buncos, and last bunco. Last night I got the most losses so that was $20 and my name was drawn for the $10 door prize!

Karen – Bunco was at her house this time. She used to be the librarian at my school my 1st year. Then she moved to another school in Irving. Just this week she was named the Librarian of Texas! She’s great! Unfortunately, she’ll be moving to San Antonio this summer though. We will be sad to see her go.

Lori and I – Lori teaches kindergarten. Her little girl is in my class this year. Lori’s brother Jarod is the one I went with to the Christmas party at the Rangers ballpark.

Wendi and Chris – Wendi just got nominated to do an assistant principal internship next year. Irving only chose 2 teachers out of the whole district and she was 1 of them! Chris taught at my school my 1st year then moved back to Grand Prairie.

Jaleen and Sarah – Jaleen teaches kindergarten and loves the Rangers as much as I do. Sarah lives in my old apartment complex and is a close friend of mine.

Krista – Krista grew up here and went to Centenary in Shreveport on a soccer scholarship. She’s hilarious! When you roll a Bunco (3 sixes at a time) you call “Bunco!” and have to wear something out of the bag so everyone will know who got the last bunco. There are all sorts of choices but Krista chose the straw hat.

Melinda acting like an angel – Melinda is one of the funniest people I know. We go to her house once a week in the summer and lay out at her pool. She’s the one that got me started on going to Canton.

Melissa – She teaches kindergarten. Can you tell we have a great time at bunco? :)

My Spring Break

2006-03-15T22:31:00.000-06:00

I went to San Antonio with some friends from church for a couple of days this week. I had never been before. People around here can't believe I've never been. But I remind them that they've never been to Baton Rouge or New Orleans and we call it even. :) On our way down we stopped and shopped at the outlet mall in San Marcos, just like Dan and Michelle. :) I had no idea just how huge it was! Wow! You almost need a golf cart to go around in b/c you end up having to take packages back to the car and move the car and that gets old to me.

Then that night we ate at Cafe Ole on the Riverwalk. There were about a million other people celebrating their Spring Break as well. :) These pics are of Natalie and I. I must say the Alamo was much smaller than I expected.

Then Monday we spent the day at Sea World. Once again, I had never been so that was a cool experience for me. I loved the Shamu show. It made me wish I would have chosen a different career path. But someone's gotta teach those trainers how to read so I guess I'll stick with my job. :)

We took a behind-the scenes tour and got to play with the penguins. I teach a unit on them to my 2nd graders so I was wishing they could have been there to see it all. They would have loved it and thanks to their great teacher, they would have already known all the info the tour guide was telling us. :) jk! We also fed these lorikeets. See my new Fossil watch I bought in San Marcos? Well, you can't really see it, but it's cute! :)

Since Sea World is operated by the Anheuser-Busch company, they have some of the Clydesdales on display. It was odd to see a beer stand in this family-friendly environment, but it was there. You can't imagine how many strollers we saw!!! But when we would hear babies crying or see kids throwing fits, we were glad we didn't have kids with us! On the way home I waved to you in Pfluggerville, Deborah. :)

Since I've been back, I spent a day shopping with my friend Karen and her little boy DeWayne. Here's their family pic. Isn't he precious?!?! He only has to wear his little helmet for a few more weeks (it's helping to shape his head correctly). And today I went to IKEA with my friend Koby. Then we went to see our friend Jennifer's new baby Jackson. Her husband went to NLU, so that's a fun connection that we have. Tomorrow I'm heading to Ruston for a couple of days. My mom's side of the family is getting together for lunch on Saturday. I sure do wish Jessica or Carrie was here to ride with me. :) It sure helps the drive go by faster. So that's about all I have to write about this week. I will say this...being off this one week has really made me look forward to summer break more. :) My student teacher leaves in about a month. Then I'll have 6 weeks left to teach them everything we haven't gotten to yet. It's always at about this time of the school year that I freak out just a little b/c it feels like I haven't prepared my kids for 3rd grade yet. So the next 2 1/2 months we'll be very busy doing just that, trying to cram in as much as possible so no 3rd grade teachers can talk bad about the kids they get from Miss Ginn next year. :)

Have a great weekend!

Happy Birthday to Kristi!!!

2006-03-05T16:58:00.000-06:00

Today (Monday) is Kristi birthday. Since she’s in Houston and most of us aren’t able to see her on her birthday, I thought we could use my blog to share happy birthday wishes with her for her last year to be twenty-something. :) Live it up, Kristi!!!

I have known Kristi since we were in the nursery together at Temple. I can remember when she was planning on going away for college, I was excited for her, but sad to see her go. Then when she ended up staying at Tech, I was glad! We went on many ICEE runs together back in those days and solved lots of the world’s problems driving around in her purple Grand Am. But we were never ones to stalk. :)

It’s comforting to know that you are only a phone call away, Kris Tee. You’re a good listener and are always up for an adventure…especially when it comes to finding a pool to lay out at. Thanks for always being such a great friend to me! I hope you have the best year yet. I hate that I can’t be there to celebrate with you. Have fun and hopefully SOMEday when you’re back in Dallas again, we can get together and have dinner. I love you!

Ode to Meg.....not really, but she's in 3 out of the 4 pictures :)

2006-03-01T22:43:00.000-06:00

I'm a little behind on posting this...as usual. :) But here are some pics from the Mardi Gras party that haven't shown up on any other blogs yet. A while back I didn't have a real picture of Johnny's pizza...but now I do. :) Thanks for bringing the pizza and king cake, Doc. I feel a toothache coming on. Do you know of a good dentist I can go see Sunday? :)

Everyone should mark it on their calendars now that next year the Mardi Gras party is at Justin and Merth's house because Justin got the baby. Justin, will you invite Stu and then he can invite Chad? What a small world!!! I signed up to start working with the junior high girls at church now...just kidding! :) We'll have to meet another way because that's not my favorite age group to work with.

Ok, well, it's way past my bedtime now. Only 7 more days until Spring Break. Woo hoo!!!